Apocalypse Expounded

The judgment falls upon the THIRD PART of trees and ALL green grass. Trees seem to imply man in his pride and lofty exaltation. In Isaiah 2:12, speaking of the day of the Lord, the very day that in Revelation is being introduced, the proud and lofty and lifted up ones are to be brought low; these are the cedars of Lebanon and oaks of Bashan—the loftiness of man, and the haughtiness of man.

In Isaiah 37:24-28, we get similar figures used, the tall cedars and choice fir trees being the great men, the dignitaries, whereas the grass shows us the masses, the common people. This trumpet affects specially the lower classes, though there is a commencement of the collapse about to come upon the governing classes—the THIRD PART of trees and ALL green grass.

It is well-known that the next war will be a war from the air, and a war of extermination of the civil and non-combatant classes. Communists are today using every effort to spread sedition amongst the military and naval forces by means of propaganda and lying pamphlets. Even if they were to succeed in their nefarious efforts, this would not prevent the destruction of life that every intelligent and loyal leader of the government plainly foresees and rightly dreads, for it will not be a case of Infantry and Cavalry and Dreadnoughts, etc., but poison gas and bombs from the sky. This we believe may be what is likely to fulfill the conditions described under the first trumpet.

The Third Part.

Added to the above interpretation, and by no means contradictory thereto, it has often been suggested that a very precise meaning attaches to this fraction so frequently repeated. It is often taken to mean the Roman Empire in its Western portion. The Roman Empire in the past extended far wider than many suppose; it had an Eastern portion (Syria, Arabia, Egypt), a Central (Greece, Illyricum), and a Western (Italy, Britain, Spain, etc.). It is this Western portion that is yet to revive, and this it is that appears to be the thought in the third part, viz., the European portion.

The Eastern portion of the ancient Roman Empire will be included in the Assyrian of prophecy which will extend to the Far East. The Beast (Rev. 13 and 17) and the Assyrian will be opposed to one another.

A Burning Mountain.

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;” And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (vs. 8. 9).

That the dissolution of government hinted at in the first trumpet should lead to revolution need not surprise us. This agitation and unrest amongst men is implied by the use of the symbol of the sea. The great mountain burning with fire, implies some great earthly power in volcanic eruption. Babylon of old was such a power (Jer. 51:25), and in a coming day history will repeat itself in an aggravated degree.

The history of the French Revolution gives us a little picture of what it will be. Some great European power which seemed firmly established and as solid and secure as a mountain, will suddenly be overthrown. Already do we see revolt against monarchy and government generally. These fires of revolution will presently burst forth in a quarter least expected because of its apparently secure and powerful condition. A reign of terror will ensue, and trade and commerce will be paralyzed.

We have an object lesson in RUSSIA today. Bad as that is, we believe worse is to come after the removal of the Holy Spirit when the saints are caught up. What would be the effect upon humanity if ENGLAND were to collapse? Every thoughtful man is well aware of the efforts now being made by advanced Socialists and communists to bring this about. Moscow is using all her hellish designs against Great Britain. The Strike as everybody knows was engineered by the Soviets for this end, and India is being set aflame to bring about the downfall of England.

Whether it be England or not that will fulfill the conditions described by the great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea, the result will be disastrous to all the nations in anywise connected therewith.

Fall of a Great Star.

“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters: “And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” (vss. 10,11).

In this we see the fall of some great ruling power. By comparing the passages in Old and New Testaments where “stars” are symbolically used we are led to think that a ruler in a spiritual sense is here implied. Under the second trumpet we get the collapse of civil government, here it is the strong delusion of apostasy.

Whatever interpretation of this star may be given along historicist lines we are persuaded that the final fulfillment is not yet. Some have thought it may be the first appearance of Antichrist. Certainly, all the principles that will reach their climax in the Man of sin are actively at work around us. Socialism and Atheism are closely linked together today. Under the third trumpet some great spiritual leader will apostatize, and bring about by his fall the embitterment of the springs and streams of human happiness. Still further, moral distance from God is the result. Apostasy will plunge men into mental and spiritual anguish. Oh, that men today would learn what an evil and bitter thing it is to turn away from the living God and His living Word! The cross of Christ makes bitter waters sweet (cf. Ex. 15:25). Apostasy will turn all into bitterness “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise” (vs. 12).

The apostasy begun under the third trumpet, increases under the fourth, until all the spiritual powers become darkened under God’s judgment throughout Europe.

If the interpretation of the “third part” we have hinted at be correct, the first four trumpets would seem to affect the Western nations of Europe. The next two, as we shall see, have specially to do with the East.

“And I beheld, and heard an eagle (R.V.) 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” (8:13).

How vividly is here depicted the rapid course of events that follows upon the fourth trumpet. The eagle is a symbol of rapidity of motion, swooping down upon the prey, for “eagle” here it should be instead of “angel.”

Chapter 24

The Fifth Trumpet

Revelation 9.

The four first trumpets affect specially the circumstances of men; the fifth and sixth, the men themselves. Then again, the four first trumpets have specially to do with Europe and the Western powers; the fifth and sixth affect nations of both the Near and the Far East.

“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit” (ver. 1)

Already under the third trumpet a star had been seen to fall from heaven, and this star, it would seem, is here under the fifth trumpet seen as fallen. It is not the act of falling, but rather the fact that it had already fallen. These are the early days of Antichrist, and, as we shall presently see, the land of Palestine is here specially in view; whereas under the third trumpet, as we have before suggested, the Roman Empire in its Western portion (“the third part”) is the sphere of the darkening influences of apostasy.

Whether this fallen star be the actual Antichrist or no, we cannot say, but this is clear that he is an apostate ruler, one who had been put governmentally in a place of responsibility to rule and bless. He ought to have shone with the light of heaven, but instead became the instrument of Satanic energy upon the earth.

“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit” (vs. 2).

The key of the pit was given to this fallen star, and all the powers of hell are by him let loose. The darkening influences of apostasy will then make themselves felt, not in Christendom merely, but in Palestine. It is awful to see these things at work today in so-called Christian lands. Many pulpits are even now completely given up to Satanic teachings. These things have been distinctly foretold in the Scripture, but we see them today assuming shape with the most appalling rapidity. Under Antichrist’s apostate rule all heavenly light and order will be darkened by the smoke of the bottomless pit.

“And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

“And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” (vs. 3,4).

The Swarm of Locusts.

These must no doubt be taken in a figurative and not a literal sense. In Joel 1. they are most probably literal, for there the trees and pasture are withered, but here these are specially said to be exempt. The scourge, whatever it is, falls, not upon the material grass which is the natural food of literal locusts, not upon the circumstances of men which grass would mean taken figuratively, but upon the men themselves, and these men those who had not been sealed on their foreheads. This last allusion indicates that the sphere of activity of these locusts is to be the land of Palestine (cf. Rev. 7).

Torment Awaits the Jews.

The Jews are going back to Palestine today in unbelief; their number is daily increasing; large tracts of land are being colonized by them. Since the Balfour Declaration so great has been the influx that Palestine is rapidly becoming a Jewish State, and Hebrew is becoming a living language. A people without a language is a lifeless people, but Zionism has restored to the people the very language they had forgotten for nearly 2,000 years.

“And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man” (vs. 5).

This passage gives us a terrible insight into the sufferings that await them in their own land. It must be remembered that the time of their great tribulation is not here alluded to. Bad as this one will be, the latter will be greater far, the greatest that ever has been, or that ever will be. The great tribulation will last forty-two months, whereas this one is limited to five. But they will be months of torment, not physical, but mental and spiritual. It will be the torment of apostasy, and what agony is greater than that of the soul that has given up God? The anguish of the apostate people of Israel in the last days is alluded to in Isaiah 8:19-22, and their efforts to supplement the loss of God and faith, by turning to necromancy and spiritism. All these things are preparing in our own days.

Hath God Said?

Infidelity is Satanic in its origin. It began with the Serpent’s question in the garden of Eden, “Hath God said?” Multitudes today are playing with it, encouraged by the shallow glamour of “Higher Criticism” and “New Theology.” The day is fast approaching when an army of false teachers will overrun the earth, insinuating the tormenting poison of diabolical unbelief.

“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (vs. 6).

The increasing number of suicides in our time is largely the result of religious unbelief. The unsettlement of faith, the ignoring of all the claims of God, the abandonment of all belief in a hereafter, either of heaven or hell—all these influences tend to give loose rein to men’s sinful lusts and passions, the resulting remorse, disappointment, and self-loathing drive them to despair, and, as they say, to “end it all.” But it is not the end, for after death, the judgment! But under the fifth trumpet, strange as it may be, the imagined relief of death will flee from them.

“And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.”

“And they had hair as the hair of women” (vss. 7, 8).

It is not actual war, of course; that had been already spoken of under the seals, and will take place at an earlier part than this of the interval between the rapture of the saints and the appearing in glory of Christ for judgment. War there will be at the close of that interval. At the commencement of it the wars will be international, but at the close all nations will be gathered together against Christ.

Here, however, these moral locusts bear the semblance of a conquering host; the appearance as of crowns of gold indicate that there will be that about them which will tend to inspire their dupes with a superstitious sense of their having received a righteous commission from God. But the test of all teaching, the Word of God, having been slighted and ignored, there will be nothing whereby to judge of doctrine on its approach. The appearance in front is of masculine energy, intelligence and power, but seen from behind is weak and subject—the faces of men, but the hair of women.

“Their teeth were as the teeth of lions and they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

“And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months” (vss. 9,10).

How different the emissaries of this Satanic energy from the bottomless pit, from those who in this present dispensation have to wage war with spirits of wickedness in the heavenlies! Our breastplate is one of righteousness (Eph. 6)— practical righteousness. Without this we cannot stand for one moment before the fiery darts of the Evil One.

“The shield of faith, and the breastplate of righteousness are indispensable portions of the panoply of God. But Satan’s servants have teeth of lions, relentlessly to tear and destroy. The breastplate of iron shows how completely heart and conscience will be steeled and rendered incapable of appreciating the utter torment of mind and soul which their hell-inspired doctrines spread through the world. “I want no Jesus Christ to stand between me and God—I want no blood of Jesus to give me title for heaven,” said a preacher recently from the pulpit of a so-called Christian church, adding with a blasphemy that makes one tremble to record— “I claim it as a right, and if the man Jesus should dispute my title, I would appeal to God against—.” Oh, the horror of this smoke from the abyss! Whole congregations of the young are today being carried away with these darkening Satanic influences.

Power in Their Tails.

Under the fifth trumpet it will not be isolated cases, but great armies of such teachers, false prophets— “the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail” (Isa. 9:15), with power, or authority (ἔξουσία) to hurt men five months. Whence does this power come?

“They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon (destroyer)” (vs. 11).

The power is that of the abyss, that is the place where during the Millennium, evil is shut up and chained; this must not be confounded with the lake of fire, where evil is punished, and that eternally.

“In the Hebrew tongue, Abaddon”— during the time of the fifth trumpet, the Jewish people, once beloved for the father’s sakes, will be given up of God to these Satanic delusions. The early chapters of Isaiah (8-10) no doubt allude to this time when Jehovah’s anger is not turned away from the guilty people, but His hand is stretched out still in judgment.

There is no king ruling in hell. Satan is now called “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), and the wicked spirits against whom we wrestle are “rulers of the darkness of this age” (Eph. 6:12). Now, Satan is going about seeking whom he may devour; during the Millennium he will be chained and shut up in the bottomless pit; during the awful period of apostasy which precedes the Millennium he will marshal all his human forces both in Europe and Palestine, making of men his direct instruments of spiritual darkness, moral destruction, and cruel mental torment. The destroyer’s name is given both in Hebrew and Greek. Whether it be the Antichrist himself or no we cannot say, but Antichrist will combine in his own person the apostasies of Judaism and Christianity (see 1 John 2:22, 23).

One word only can describe this state of things—WOE! A word of unspeakable terror, coming as it does from the mouth of God.

“ONE WOE IS PAST; AND, BEHOLD THERE COME TWO WOES MORE HEREAFTER” — or, after these (vs. 12).

This first woe, then, seems to fall upon the land of Palestine, upon the unsealed portion of the Israelitish people.

Chapter 25

Two Woes More.

Revelation 9:12-21.

“One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more” (vs. 12).

For the interpretation of these woes we must look on to the future, and not back to the past. We must ever bear in mind that from chapter 4. onward in this book we are in the midst of scenes and judgments which will find their fulfillment in that short period that follows the removal of the Church at the coming of the Lord. We do not deny that certain historical events bear a kind of analogy to what is given in this chapter, but that is an application, and not the interpretation of the passage.

The first woe has been called SATAN’S woe, for the pit of the abyss and the angel of the abyss are prominent features of the scourge that is to fall on apostate Israel, “the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads” (cf. ch. 7). This second woe is MAN’S woe for human instrumentality is conspicuous.

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, “Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

“And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

“And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand; and I heard the number of them.”

The Golden Altar.

Two things seem prominent in connection with the golden altar—atonement and intercession. When the Lord gave instruction to Moses with reference to the making of the tabernacle, he was enjoined to burn incense upon the golden altar morning and evening; there was to be a “perpetual incense before the Lord” (Ex. 30:8).

In Revelation 8:3 this incense was to give efficacy to the prayers of the saints.

We are also told that the blood of the sin offering was to be placed upon its horns once a year on the great day of atonement (Ex. 30:10; Lev. 16:18). Besides this the blood of the special sin offering for “the priest that is anointed,” and for “the whole congregation” was to be placed upon the horns of the golden altar (Lev. 4:7,18).

How solemn to find that the voice comes from the horns of this same golden altar, no longer now speaking of intercession and atonement, but releasing the four angels of judgment which were bound at the great river Euphrates. Another has written:— “We have no record in the Word of the binding of these four angels until here recorded; but we know from Peter and Jude that the angels who kept not their place and dwelling—tampering with humans, as humans now do with demons—are kept in eternal chains until the final reckoning; four of these being, as we here find, bound at the scene of crime, the river of Babylon. Here we find them loosed for the appointed time... The function of the four angels is to kill the third part of men, with an army of cavalry numbering 200,000,000.” (Hartridge.)

If under the fifth trumpet we find ourselves in connection with Palestine, under the sixth our attention is called to the Far East. These two trumpets correspond by way of contrast to the two companies saved during the parenthesis of mercy in Revelation 7—the one from the tribes of Israel, the other from amongst the Gentile nations.

It is to be noticed that these four angels were “prepared.” Only now was the time ripe for the execution of this particular judgment, but known unto God are all His works, even works of judgment, and this judgment will fall specially upon Europe.

The Euphratean Horsemen.

Whatever application may be made of this inroad of Euphratean horsemen along the lines of the historicist interpretation of the Apocalypse we believe that the complete and final fulfillment lies in the future, but that future seems now to be very near at hand.

Those who interpret it according to the futurist method have limited the sphere of execution of the judgment to Western Europe, in other words to the Roman Empire. They have done so by confining the expression the third part “to the Western portion of the Empire as it existed in the past. Personally, we are coming more and more to the conviction that more is to be taken literally than hitherto we have been disposed to do. Twice over is the expression used— “to slay the third part of men” (vs. 15)— “by these three was the third part of men killed” (vs. 18).

This is awful to contemplate—a wholesale destruction of humanity. Before 1914 it would have been incredible that as the result of a war something like 100,000,000 lives would be lost. Since then the war-like spirit amongst the nations of the whole earth, East and West, has increased a hundred-fold, and methods of destruction have been invented more terrifying than before. The Far East is being organized for the approaching conflict. China alone possesses a quarter of the population of the earth. Then there are Japan, India, Russia. All these lands are seething with unrest. Humanity is digging its own grave. Psalms 9. is yet to be fulfilled—

“The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.”

Under the fourth seal, the fourth part of men is slain as the result of their own wicked devices (Rev. 6:8). We are told that the population of the earth is about 1,600,000,000 (sixteen hundred million) If a fourth part are slain, twelve hundred million would remain. The seals and trumpets follow in quick succession during the brief interval of seven years between the rapture of the saints and the appearing of Christ with all His saints, so that we may take 1,200,000,000 to be still roughly the population of the earth at the time of the sounding of the sixth trumpet. Under this trumpet a “third part” of men will be killed, that is, a third part of what is left, or 400,000,000.

This seems too awful to be true, but let us remember that the army of invasion will be 200,000,000 (Rev. 9:16), and this number is emphasized. I heard the number of them.

The Assyrian of Prophecy.

If in the first part of the chapter we find the early actings of Antichrist in Palestine, hero we seem to be brought in contact with the commencing activities of the Assyrian of prophecy. There is to be a great northeastern confederacy of nations, the Gog of Ezekiel, and the Assyrian of Isaiah and Micah. At the close of the career of the Assyrian, before he falls on the mountains of Judea, he comes in special contact with the land of Palestine as the King of the North of Daniel 11 But here in Revelation 9. it would seem that the Assyrian’s early activities are in Europe, the yellow peril of which we have been hearing so much of late.

What are we to understand by the hour and day, and month and year? Besides the fact of the period of judgment being a limited one, may it not also suggest that there may be a succession of attacks, increasing in severity?

Hordes from the East are to overrun the West. This is what God has distinctly foretold in the prophetic Scriptures, and things politically are working steadily and surely towards this end. One of the earliest and most remarkable prophecies of the O.T. makes this clear―

“Asshur shall carry thee (i.e., Israel) away captive.

“And he took up his parable and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!

“And ships shall come from the side of Chittim and shall afflict Asshur ... and he also (i.e., Chittim) shall perish forever” (Num. 24:20-25).

Chittim lay west of Palestine, and seems to refer to the Roman Empire, and shows how prophecy anticipated history.

In the description which follows we may see much that is figurative. It does not follow that literal horses are meant, but rather the rapid and onward progress of the evil. Irresistible, too, is the Satanic energy symbolized by the fire, and smoke, and brimstone. Along with military invasion in overwhelming numbers will come the blinding and Satanic influences of false doctrine. In Europe where the gospel of God’s grace has achieved its mighty results in blessing in the past, there the apostasy of rejected light and welcomed heathen darkness will destroy all moral link with God. Even today in favored England are to be found Moslem mosques and Buddhist temples.

“And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

“For their power is in their mouths, and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt” (9:17-19).

Apostate Christendom filled with violence, corruption, and idolatry will find no place of repentance, but will seek relief from the torment of infidelity in demonology and spiritistic investigations. Compare Saul and the witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28); and also the anguish of the apostate people of Israel in the last days (Isa. 8:19-22); only here in Revelation 9. it is Europe that is in question

“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.

“Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts” (vss. 20, 21).

Chapter 21.

The Little Open Book.

Revelation 10

As in the case of the seals there was an interruption between the sixth and the seventh, so here we find a similar break between the sixth and seventh trumpets. For the sixth trumpet would seem to conclude with the last verse of chapters 9, and the seventh is not sounded until chapter 11:15.

In each case it is mercy staying the course of judgment, for God loves mercy, and judgment is His strange work.

“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire” (10:1).

There seems little doubt that “another” angel, both here and in chapter 8:3 is none other than the Lord Himself. It is not yet quite the time for His public manifestation as Son of man in judgment, but nevertheless that time is rapidly approaching, and the Lord seems to be dealing more directly with the course of events than He did by the providential judgments that have preceded.

All the symbols used in verse 1 point unmistakably to the Lord Himself. He was clothed with a cloud, which is the well-known sign of Jehovah’s presence, hidden, but not yet revealed. There was a rainbow upon His head, reminding us of God’s faithfulness towards creation. His countenance as the sun tells of His supreme authority (Rev. 1:16; Matt. 17:2), and the pillars of fire indicate the firmness and searching character of His judgment.

“And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth, “And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices, “And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not” (vss. 2-4).

There is a change here from chapters 5. There the book was sealed, and must have remained so had it not been for the suffering unto death of Him who glorified God with reference to sin (ch. 5:9).

The seals that one by one were opened by the Lamb tell of providential occurrences, which being but severer forms of events that have often happened throughout the history of this world, none would necessarily have known them to be positive interventions on the part of God.

The Open Book.

But here the book is open. It is no longer mysterious and symbolic, but direct dealing of God in connection with Jerusalem and the Jews, and those Gentiles immediately linked with them, as we shall see in the next chapter (Rev. 11).

It is not only open, but it is a little book, for the time is now drawing very near its close, and the sphere of God’s acting is getting more restricted; the temple of God, the altar, the court are more exclusively in view. At the same time, He who descends from heaven, invested with all the signs of divine majesty, plants His feet upon the sea and the earth, showing that all belongs to Him, and that He has universal claim over heaven, earth, and sea.

The SEA may represent the unformed masses of mankind, outside the limits of the prophetic earth—the EARTH being that portion where ordered government prevails, and direct testimony has gone forth. We must remember that we have nothing to do here with the church and the heavenly saints, who are already with the Lord, but with the Jews alive on earth, and specially with Jerusalem.

The loud voice, the lion’s roar, the answering thunders, all convey the thought of the awful outburst of divine judgment which was about to take place. Much of the imagery of the Book of Revelation is found likewise in the Old Testament, and here the fervid denunciation of God’s people of old through the lips of Amos comes irresistibly to the mind.

“The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?”

(Amos 3:1-9)

The imposing majesty of the scene fills the soul with awe. The roaring of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, about to take possession of the inheritance through acts of long-delayed but justly merited judgment—heaven’s complete answer—SEVEN thunders—in full accord with this solemn announcement. John was about to write, but heaven forbade. The time was now so short, that the details must not be communicated.

No Longer Delay.

“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,” And sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that there should be delay no longer” (R.V. margin).

“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared the good tidings (R.V.) by his servants the prophets” (vss. 5-7).

Here, then, we have the declaration of the Lord’s right over all creation, along with the announcement that there should be no longer delay in asserting and enforcing that claim.

Many have imagined that the reading of our A.V.— “that there should be time no longer”— implies that the time condition of things was just about to cease and eternity to commence. But this is not at all the case. Much had yet to take place before eternity could begin, but there was to be “no further delay” in the execution of judgment.

The mystery of God was about to terminate. Evil was no longer to be triumphant, Satan no longer to have his way, as alas! is too often the case now. It is often an inexplicable mystery how God Who loves righteousness and hates iniquity should allow evil to have the upper hand, and for so long. But soon all will be explained, and His wisdom, love and power fully vindicated. Christ, too, will be glorified in the eyes of the whole universe, and all the blessed promises made beforehand, and the glad predictions of Old Testament prophets will be fulfilled.

The Mystery of God.

Some have thought from the expression “the mystery of God” that the Church was in question. But the mystery of the Church, its union with a glorified Christ, its composition of believing Jews and Gentiles, baptized by the Holy Ghost into one body, with the middle wall of partition broken down—this mystery was not declared either to or by His servants the prophets in O.T. times; it was then kept secret and not made known until “revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets (i.e., of the N.T.) by the Spirit,” and especially through Paul (Eph. 3:4).

We need to weigh carefully the passages where the word “mystery” occurs.

We are told that in the dispensation of the fullness of times God will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. This is called “the mystery of His will” (Eph. 1:9, 10). God has made known to us what He will one day accomplish for the glory of Christ. In spite of the rage of Satan against God, in spite of the ruin wrought by man’s sin, everything in heaven and on earth will be gathered up and united in blessing under Christ.

The Church will be given a place of association with Christ in manifested glory. Christ will be head over all things. He will be head not only of the Church but to the Church. This is a twofold headship. This is the mystery of His will which He has purposed in Himself—a mystery which is even now made known to believers, but which will be manifest to all, in the Millennium, and in a special sense during eternal ages.

“And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book....

“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book....

“And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter” (vss. 8-10).

Further Prophecies.

The voice again speaks to John and bids him take the little book out of the mighty angel’s hand. But the prophet must eat it up and thus thoroughly digest its contents. The announcing of the terrible judgments of God upon this guilty world must not be undertaken in a light or merely intellectual manner.

No earthly judge worthy the name is ever known to pass sentence upon a criminal however contemptible in his guilt, without keenly feeling the painful nature of his duty. So he that is called of God to bear witness to his righteous judgments must meditate in all seriousness and sobriety on all that that judgment implies. It is sweet to the taste to think that soon all evil will be put down, and that a King shall reign in righteousness and peace. But when we consider what is in store for rebellious and unrepentant sinners, not only of bodily judgment here, but of eternal perdition hereafter, it fills the soul with bitterness and grief.

“And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (vs. 31).

John is told that further witness is yet to be borne of judgments that are to affect the living nations and kings, for here it is not the judgment of the dead that is in question.

Chapter 27

God’s Final Testimony.

Revelation 11

The time is now drawing to a close, and Christ is about to set up His Kingdom. The Church having been caught up to glory, the Jews are once more the objects of God’s interest on earth.

“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein” (ch. 11:1).

A Jerusalem Remnant.

We see from this a recognition on God’s part of a remnant from amongst the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These are different from the sealed ones of Revelation 7. There the tribes scattered abroad were in view, here a narrower and more restricted sphere occupies the mind of the Spirit. As the brief interval between the rapture of the saints (1 Thess. 4) and the appearance of Christ in glory rapidly speeds its way, Jerusalem becomes more and more the focus of God’s dealings both in grace and judgment.

It is in Jerusalem that the power of evil will at that time be rampant, and there above all places on the earth will the difficulty of true and faithful testimony be experienced. But there will be a remnant even there who will worship God, and that, too, in a public manner. God will take special account of these; He will measure the place where they assemble to serve Him; He will measure those who worship. Not one will be lost sight of.

In Ezekiel (ch. 40) and Zechariah (ch. 2) the same action on God’s part is taken notice of, but that will be at a later date, when the Millennium itself will be set up. Consequently there, not the temple only, but the city of Jerusalem and the whole land of Palestine are measured out as God’s own Peculiar possession.

“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-and-two months” (vs. 2).

The Times of the Gentiles.

From this we learn that the times of the Gentiles have not yet ceased. Some have thought that when the Turks were driven out of Jerusalem and Palestine, and Great Britain received the Mandate, that then the times of the Gentiles came to an end. This is not so. The Church is still upon earth: Israel’s condition of Lo-ammi— “not My people”— still exists.

Though Great Britain has been used of God for the immediate deliverance of Palestine from Turkish oppression, yet she is a Gentile power. But this chapter anticipates the time when the Beast will be in possession of Jerusalem—a time which may be much nearer than many suppose.

Jehovah’s Hidden Ones.

At any rate here we see that the enemies of God and His people are in Jerusalem, and have access into the very court of the temple. As we have seen before, the Jewish remnant will at that time be the only witnesses for God on the earth. The Psalms make mention prophetically of these times. Psalms 74, for instance, shows that the enemy at that time will do “wickedly in the Sanctuary.” The heathen, that is the Gentiles, will be come into Palestine, the land of God’s inheritance (Psa. 79:1). They will defile God’s holy temple, which at that time, it seems, will have been rebuilt. The atheism and hatred of all religion which has already taken hold of large masses of the population of our own dear land, as well as other European countries, under the influence of Communism and Bolshevism will lead them to try and destroy those who worship the true God.

All over the land of Palestine they will burn up the synagogues, but God will take care that in Jerusalem, as well as elsewhere, in spite of reproach and blasphemy, a little feeble band of hidden ones will be preserved. Many will be slain, as Psalms 79. tells us; their blood will be shed like water round about Jerusalem. See also Psalms 83 But this time of oppression and persecution will be limited to forty-two months. It will be the time of the Great Tribulation.

The Beast from the Abyss.

We have elsewhere alluded to the remarkable prophecy of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9. We cannot here enlarge upon it, but would point out that these forty-two months are the second half of the last or seventieth week. Soon after the removal of the Church at the coming of the Lord a great power will arise, mentioned for the first time in this book in chapter 11:7. As all our readers are well aware this is now forcing itself upon the attention of the whole world. It is the revived Roman Empire which will be ruled by a prince of Satanic energy and power.

Another has written— “In anticipation of this dread concentration of evil, it may be well to remark that ‘beast’ as a symbol means an Imperial Power rather than an individual, although the directing power or head of such Empire, being an individual, would be called ‘beast’ also. The term ‘beast’ is used as indicating a power or a person totally devoid of conscience, and therefore amenable, without compunction of any kind, to Satanic influence. The world will fall under the cruel power of this scourge”— ―[Hartridge].

The Prince That Shall Come.

According to Daniel 9:27, this prince will confirm a covenant with the apostate portion of the Jewish people. Some have thought that this covenant was the new covenant made by Christ, but this is not so. We must not confound “Messiah the Prince” of verse 25, with “the Prince that shall come” of verse 26. This latter is the Roman Prince; he is the prince of the people that destroyed the city in A.D. 70.

“And he shall confirm a covenant with [the] many for one week”

for thus the passage should run. It is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell (Isa. 28:15). The apostate people in Palestine will be so thoroughly under the power of Antichrist that he will make them enter into this alliance with the head of the Roman Empire.

At first, all goes well, the Jewish ritual and sacrifices are revived, but in the midst of the week this prince breaks his covenant with the Jewish people, and causes their sacrifices to cease. But those who in the midst of this abounding wickedness, really worshipped God, the remnant of “hidden ones” (Psa. 83:3) now stand out boldly and publicly.

The Two Witnesses.

From amongst these, two individuals seem to stand forth more prominently than the rest.

They become the objects of Satan’s bitter and cruel persecution, and for forty-two months, or three and a half years (namely, the second half of this seventieth week) they have to bear the full brunt of his fury, and that of the enemies of God.

“And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth” (ver. 3)

Not only will there be the public worship of God on the part of the remnant, but there will also be a prophetic testimony. It will not be, as now, a testimony of grace to lost and ruined sinners, but of judgment soon to fall upon a guilty and apostate world. It will be a testimony borne in sorrow, for these witnesses are seen clothed in sackcloth. It will be a testimony adequate in degree, for there are two (Deut. 17:6). It will be a testimony that will continue throughout the whole period of the last half week, for 1260 days make 42 months or 31, years, the Jewish year containing 360 days.

God takes account of their faithful witness for Him, nor do they slacken or abate their active testimony for a single day during that awful period.

What we find then in the first three verses of our chapter is (1) a company of accepted Jewish worshippers, worshippers who have a priestly character, for they have access to the temple and the altar (no doubt the altar of incense); (2) the Holy City desecrated and given up to Gentile oppression (cf. Luke 21); and (3) at the same time adequate prophetic testimony.

The Two Olive Trees.

These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth” (vs. 41.

No doubt there is in this a reference to Zech. 4 This latter passage looks on prophetically to the time of Israel’s full blessing in their own land under Messiah’s presence and government. Rev. 11. is a partial pledge and foretaste of what will be enjoyed in its fullness during the Millennium.

It will be noticed that in Zech. 4:2 There is but one candlestick with seven lamps, signifying the perfect display of the Spirit’s power in Christ. There are two olive trees, symbolical of Christ’s twofold office in that day as Priest and King. At the time that Zechariah prophesied, Joshua and Zerubbabel were the two anointed ones who typically represented Christ in His millennial glory, the one as Priest (Joshua), the other as King (Zerubbabel). Likewise the two witnesses in Rev. 11. are a testimony in the midst of apostasy that all rule belongs to God—the earth is His, He is THE GOD OF THE EARTH. When Christ takes His power and reigns during the thousand years, this will all be seen in its perfect order, beauty and power.

God’s Final Testimony.

Verses 5 and 6 describe the character of the testimony of these two witnesses. As we have already seen it will be prophetic. It will be God’s last word of testimony to an apostate world. Christ will not yet have made good His power on earth. Though He will have come for His bride, the Church, and will have taken her to the Father’s house, He will not yet have returned to take His earthly Kingdom. But these two witnesses keep on day after day asserting His rights, and announcing the fact that He is coming to rule and put down all rebellion. This draws down upon them the bitter hatred of the world, at that time fully under Antichrist’s power.

“And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed”

“These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” (vss. 5, 6).

It will be a dangerous thing to interfere with these witnesses. They will possess extraordinary God-given power in judgment. Not only fire from their mouths, but power like Moses to turn the waters into blood and to smite with plagues, and like Elijah to shut up heaven from rain. There is no limit to this power; they can smite the earth with plagues as often as they will; but this power will be exercised only in time of need, and that to maintain their testimony during the time appointed by God. There will be nothing vindictive about it, for it is borne in sorrow and sackcloth.

A Finished Testimony.

At length their testimony, though rejected, will be finished.

“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them” (vs. 7).

We must not suppose from this that the Beast only comes up from the pit at the moment that their testimony will be finished. We doubt not that the Beast had already been exercising his power for seven years, the full seventieth week of Dan. 9. It seems clear that only the last half of this week is reckoned in the Book of Revelation; and during this last half week, as we have seen, the two witnesses are prophesying continuously day by day.

But their testimony will be rendered in Jerusalem whereas the seat of the Beast is at Rome, the city of seven hills (cf. Rev. 17). The Beast is not Antichrist, though these two men will be in close league at this time. Antichrist will be at Jerusalem reigning as the false king of the apostate nation; the Beast will be at Rome, as chief of the revived Roman Empire. But tidings of the persistent prophetic witness to the coming King, accompanied by the miraculous powers of the world to come, at length so infuriate the Beast that he launches all his hell-born hatred against Christ at these His two witnesses. God’s time has come, their testimony is complete, they are slain.

“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their (R.V.) Lord was crucified” (vs. 8).

This clearly shows that Jerusalem is the scene of the conflict—a very Sodom for its corruptions and moral wickedness, and an Egypt for its oppression of God’s little remnant.

But, oh, these will be awful times! Jerusalem will then be the great metropolis and meeting-place for the great and wealthy of all nations. Even today, where are the greatest hatred of Christ and scorn of His people to be found? Is it not amongst those whose lives of sin and shame are sternly rebuked by the Word of God? Add wealth and luxury to all this corruption, and no word: can describe the venomous hate that fills the breast a everything that would bring God and His claims before the mind.

Such people today scorn and scoff at all religion If they do not scoff they ignore it all, and so contrive to live their lives with no sound of the “hereafter” to trouble them.

But it will not be so in Jerusalem at that day.

Advent Testimony will not Cease with the Removal of the Church.

It will be heralded by a different band of witnesses—Jewish, not Christian. It will have a different character—not the coming of the Bridegroom for His bride, but the coming of the King to deliver His people, Israel, from their great tribulation under Antichrist—not the coming into the air for His saints (1 Thess. 4), but the coming to the Mount of Olives with His saints (Zech. 14).

The witnesses day by day will assert God’s claims, and announce the coming King.

Is it any wonder that they will be hated? What a relief when they are actually slain! One special class are full of delight.

“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into 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” (vss. 9, 10).

Notice the difference between verse 9 and 10. “They that dwell upon the earth” are a class all by themselves; they are often mentioned in the Revelation, and we believe represent highly favored Christendom that during this day of grace keeps persistently rejecting all God’s offers of heaven. They choose the earth, and are therefore “earth dwellers,” not merely inhabitants of the earth. They had been specially tormented by the witness of these two prophets.

Can we not imagine that the removal of the Church, after the first panic is over, will be a relief to worldly minded Christendom. Quickly falling under Antichrist’s influence, they will settle down again to enjoy the intoxicating pleasures of sin. An immense impetus will at this time be given to commerce. Babylon the Great, with all her dazzling religious splendor, will make the earth-dwellers drunken from her golden cup filled with idolatry and corruption.

As there has been in ages past, so will there be during the brief period between the rapture and the return of Christ in judgment, only in far greater degree—the combination of religion and moral corruption called by the Spirit of holiness, “the depths of Satan.” When, lo I once again the witness goes forth.

Christ is Coming!

Coming, not this time to take the saints to heaven, but to take His great power and to reign. The earth-dwellers had thought that with the departure of the Church all such unwelcome sound had died away. What torment to their guilty consciences will result from this faithful testimony, and that, too, from the city where “our Lord was crucified!”

But when the tidings are flashed over Europe that these two witnesses are no more, that at length their lips are sealed in death, that their dead bodies are even lying unburied in the streets of Jerusalem, what unholy rejoicings! What hellish delight I what congratulatory sending of gifts one to another! But the triumph is shortlived.

“And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.”

“And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies beheld them” (vss. 11, 12).

God’s Chariot of Glory.

What dismay will fill the breasts of those who witness this special act of God’s power in public acknowledgment of His faithful witnesses? It is not exactly resurrection of the dead, nor is it the changing of the living, as at the coming of the Lord (1 Thess. 4). Spirit of life from God enters into them, and they stand upon their feet there in the very place where they had been slain, and before the eyes of the very men who had rejoiced at their death.

We are not told that the witnesses uttered one word. Their days of sackcloth prophesying were over. No voice of sorrowful testimony is now heard on earth, but a great voice from heaven,

“Come Up Hither,”

and two living men ascend to heaven in the cloud, God’s chariot of glory.

“And their enemies beheld them.” No merry-making now! no mocking at the messengers of God! This was too manifestly the hand of God’s power, too evidently a forerunner of greater woe.

“And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of names (R.V.) of men, seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven” (vs. 13).

But fear is not conversion; an earthquake will produce the one, but only submission to the testimony of God’s Word will produce the other. This testimony has been rejected. God’s claim to the earth had been refused. It was now too late to own Him as the God of heaven. True repentance and conversion are evidenced by submission to and reception of God’s testimony of the special time. Jerusalem, recently visited by an earthquake more severe than any known since its destruction under Titus in A.D. 70, will be the scene of the awe-inspiring occurrences described in this chapter. This does not mean that there will not be at the same time circumstances of as great terror taking place in other parts of the earth. Later on in this book we shall see that such is the case, but here the great city is Jerusalem. A tenth part of it lies in ruins, and seven thousand whose very names are known to God are slain.

The rest are affrighted, as well they may be, and in order to save themselves, still unrepentant and ignorant of God’s Word, endeavor to claim a relationship in which He no longer stood to this poor world. The God of heaven had ere this withdrawn from all such links with the earth.

THE SECOND WOE IS PAST: AND BEHOLD, THE THIRD WOE COMETH QUICKLY.

Chapter 28

The Third Woe.

Revelation 11:15-18.

The first woe (Rev. 9:1-11) has been called SATAN’S woe, for the prominent feature in all the horrors then enacted will be the pit of the abyss.

The second woe has been designated MAN’S woe, for the Euphratean horsemen speak of the great inroad of the eastern hordes. This will come before us again in chapters 16.

Other things had been described as happening during the period allotted to the second woe, events of a startling character. God’s last testimony to a lost world just before the setting up of the kingdom has been given, but utterly rejected in the slaughter of His two witnesses.

The third woe alone remains, GOD’S woe, and what pen can give even the smallest conception of the terrors of this last one, the greatest of all? This at least is clear, that the time for mercy, a mercy long displayed but contemptuously despised, is now forever at an end. The time for judgment has now fully arrived, and this no longer in an indirect and providential manner, such as by famines, wars, pestilences, and social upheavals; it is Christ Himself present to execute the righteous judgment of a holy God. And it is solemnly said— “the third woe cometh quickly.”

Why quickly? Is there not even in this rapidity an act of God’s mercy? For why prolong a hopeless condition? Today God’s long-suffering means salvation, but then this will no longer be the case, for as we have seen so great will be the blinding influence of Antichrist that men WILL NOT REPENT (ch. 9:20, 21).

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (11:15).

The angel with uplifted right hand had declared that there should be no longer delay (10:6), but that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel the mystery of God should be completed, and the glad tidings announced by His servants, the prophets, be fulfilled. This doubtless refers to the setting up of Christ’s millennial Kingdom of peace and righteousness.

Seventy-Five Days.

Can we form any idea of the length of time covered by the word “quickly?” The “quickly” of this present period of Christ’s absence has already extended over nearly two thousand years. Will the “quickly” of Revelation 11:14 extend over as long a while as that of Revelation 22:20?

We believe that seventy-five days, LITERAL DAYS, will be the utmost limit of the time between the passing of the second woe and the completion of the third; and as we now turn to the Scriptures of truth to see what light they throw upon this most solemn subject, may we remember that just as Christians now alive may be caught up without dying to meet the Lord in the air, so worldly men now alive may in their living bodies witness the terrors of these days of woe.

Forty-Two Months.

In the early part of this chapter (vs. 2 and 3) mention has been made of a period of time spoken of as lasting forty-two months, or 1260 days. That this must be taken literally we have no manner of doubt. The 1260 days and the forty-two months are the same period. We might well have wondered what they meant were it not for the book of Daniel, but Daniel and Revelation must be read together.

TIME TIMES AND AN HALF.

In the book of Daniel no mention is made of the 1260 days, nor of the forty-two months. That is to say the period of time covered by these expressions is not spoken of in terms of days or months. What we do find in Daniel is “a time and times and the dividing of time” (Dan. 7:25). This expression we also find in Revelation 12:14, and by comparing with verse 6 of the same chapter, we learn that the 1260 days is that very period. Putting all the passages together we are forced to this conclusion that—

It is the Last Half of the Seventieth Week of Daniel 9:9.7

During these 1260 days the two witnesses will be sounding forth their solemn testimony of coming judgments, and with their death the second woe is past and the third comes quickly—and how quickly!

The End of These Wonders

Looking back for a moment to Daniel 12 a very similar scene presents itself to that of Revelation 10. In answer to the question, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? the man clothed in linen raises both hands to heaven, and, like the angel in Revelation 10, swears by Him that liveth forever and ever that it shall be for “a time, times and an half.”

Here then we have the 1260 days. He who inspired Daniel of old likewise by the same Spirit inspired John to write of the same times and events five hundred years later in almost identical language. But there is this difference that whereas in Daniel’s day “the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9), to John it is said: Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for THE TIME IS NEAR—Revelation 22:10.

Daniel prophesies with special reference to his own people the Jews, whereas the Christian prophet is announcing the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ for the enlightenment of saints of this Church period. Both together will no doubt be studied with prayerful and reverent earnestness by the Jewish remnant suffering under Antichrist during the Great Tribulation of the last half week. Then it will be that that which was sealed up in Daniel’s day will be understood by “the wise” at the time of the end (see Dan. 12).

1335 Days.

Now at the close of Daniel 12. the 1260 days are extended to 1290, and these again to 1335. These extra days we believe are literal days—they are the short period of the third woe, during which events of the most awful nature will take place in many parts of the earth—Jerusalem and Rome especially—resulting in the full earthly blessing of Christ’s kingdom when the mystery of God will be finished, according to the glad tidings long since declared to His servants the prophets (Rev. 10:7). These events are not described in Revelation 11:15, they are alluded to in the after part of the book.

In the words of another―

“The third woe is the coming of the kingdom. Yes, that to greet which the earth breaks out in gladness, the morning without clouds, the day which has no night, and the fulfillment of the first promise which fell upon man’s ears when he stood a naked sinner before God to hear his doom—the constant theme of prophecy now swelling into song, and now sighed out in prayer, that kingdom is yet, to the dwellers upon earth, the last and deepest woe”— [Grant].

“And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God” (vs. 16).

Heaven Astir.

The saints in heavenly glory are all astir. Whether it be the acknowledgment of the rights of God’s throne in creation (Rev. 4:10), or the rights of the Lamb in redemption (Rev. 5:8), or the rights of Christ in judgment (Rev. 11:16), the twenty-four elders who always possess the spirit of intelligent adoration, fall down before God in worship.

To the “dwellers on earth” the setting up of the kingdom means woe, to the saints in glory, one more theme for worship. They say―

“We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great Power, and hast reigned” (vs. 17—R.V.).

Notice the omission of the clause “who art to come,” for at this point the Lord had actually come and was present. The days of the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ were ended; it was now the kingdom in power.

Quoting again: — “The rod of iron is now to smite, and omnipotence it is that wields it.... The earth that has rolled from its moral orbit is reclaimed; judgment has returned to righteousness; He Who has learned for Himself the path of obedience in a suffering which was the fruit of tender interest in man, has now Himself the scepter; nor is there any power that can take it out of His hand” [Grant].

Verse 18 is the fulfillment of what had long centuries before been foretold in the second Psalm. There we get the counsels of God with reference to Messiah, the Christ. Though Peter is inspired to apply it to the rising of sinful man against Christ at the Cross, yet its full accomplishment will only be in the last days, days that in Revelation 11. are fully in view.

“And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to Thy saints, and them that fear Thy Name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth” (vs. 18).

Angry Nations.

The sounding of the seventh trumpet finds the nations seething in impotent rage against God and His Christ. How often during the Gospel period had sinners been warned to flee from the wrath to come; but all such warnings had been despised except by the few whose consciences had been awakened to a sense of sin, and who had found in Jesus their Deliverer from that coming wrath. While the day of grace lasted that wrath was “to come,” but here it is seen as actually come— “the nations—were angry and Thy wrath is come.”

At Pentecost the announcement went forth that Christ was exalted to God’s right hand as Prince and Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). This introduced the day of salvation, which has continued ever since. But apostasy is rapidly hurrying men on to a final rejection of all God’s overtures of mercy, and Revelation 11:18 shows us Christ exalted, not as Saviour but as Judge. In spite of all the anger of the nations He is set as King on God’s holy hill of Zion to rule the nations with a rod of iron.

The Time of the Dead.

How vain and useless, then, is all this anger! His wrath is come, and THE TIME OF THE DEAD.

Despisers of Christ and rejecters of the Gospel may today seek comfort from the vain hope that the dead will be annihilated, but not so. The “time of the dead” is at hand, and that time means judgment. We do well to consider these things seriously. Men despise God’s mercy and patience, and think that any time will do to repent and believe the Gospel, but here we are solemnly warned that salvation’s day will pass away, and the day of God’s wrath and judgment take its place—wrath upon those living in rebellion, judgment on the dead.

No doubt “the time of the dead to be judged” includes the judgment of the Great White Throne at the end of the millennium, though here the prominent thought is that which takes place at the beginning of that period, namely, the giving of reward to His servants the prophets, to the saints, and to all who had died in the fear of God—not one will be forgotten from the smallest to the greatest. It is interesting and instructive to find the same, expression used at the opening of the Kingdom with reference to the saints, that is used at the close with respect to the—wicked dead (Rev. 20)— “small and great.”

The Mystery of God Finished.

Here, then, is the winding up of God’s ways with the earth, the mystery of God is finished.

verse 18 takes us down to the close of the earthly kingdom. verse 15 makes allusion to both the earthly and eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ— “the kingdoms of this world are become those of our Lord and of His Christ,” this is Christ’s earthly millennial kingdom; and “He shall reign forever and ever,” this is the eternal kingdom, when as Son of man He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, and God in the plenitude of His being—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—shall be all in all (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

In Revelation 12 to 19. the Spirit of God goes back to enlarge upon the description of the powers of evil at work on the earth, in Palestine, Europe, and the East, during the time immediately preceding the appearing of Christ in judgment.

Chapters 29

A Great Wonder in Heaven.

Revelation 11:19—12:1-7.

“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of His testament (or, covenant): and there were lightnings, and voices, and thundering’s, and an earthquake, and great hail” (Rev. 11:19).

This verse links itself with what follows rather than with what precedes. In chapter 12 Israel comes prominently before us, and so the mention of the temple is readily understood. But it was seen opened in heaven; failure on man’s part was complete, but the faithfulness of God endures in spite of all.

The temple had been destroyed, and all its goodly vessels scattered (see 2 Chron. 36:36); and though it had been rebuilt—first in Ezra’s day, and then by Herod—yet the ark was no more heard of.

The ark was the symbol of Jehovah’s presence in the midst of Israel; but it was gone from earth forever, and no effort on their side could ever restore it. In the coming day of Israel’s restoration to the land in full blessing—

“They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they visit it; neither shall that he done any more.

“At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem,” etc. (Jer. 3:16-19).

Some people wonder where the old ark that was in the temple can be. They ask, Will it ever be found? We do not believe it ever will. Certainly it will not be in the temple in which Antichrist will sit and make himself worshipped as God. The ark of old was the visible token of Jehovah’s presence in the midst of His people; but all this was swept away when Nebuchadnezzar took the city and carried away the vessels of the house of God, “great and small” (2 Chron. 36:18). Then the Lo-Ammi condition of Israel began and has continued ever since.

But here (Rev. 11:19) we learn that however man had failed, God’s purpose concerning Israel remained unchangeably all had broken down; in heaven all was secure, and that security depended upon God’s own character of holiness and truth; it was “the ark of HIS covenant.” What a comfort is this to faith when all around seems crumbling to pieces! The terrors of God’s throne of judgment may fan upon the earth, but the temple where He is adored contains the ark of His covenant with His people that nothing can touch, and seen not by the natural eye but by faith. The Jewish remnant of that day will prove the sustaining power of this great fact. But the carrying out of God’s plans meets with the hostility of man, and hence it is accompanied by an outburst of divine judgment— “lightnings, voices, an earthquake, and great hail.”

Striking Symbols.

In these verses (12:1-7) three things stand prominently forward—the woman the dragon, and the man-child.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (vs. 1).

We must not suppose that the woman was herself in heaven. The prophet had himself been caught up there in the Spirit (4:1) and now beholds these wonders of events soon to take place on earth in connection with the mind of heaven.

There should be no difficulty in deciding who is meant by the woman, for the child she brought forth was “to rule all nations with a rod of iron” (vs. 5). It is Israel and not the Church. The Church is the Bride, and will be manifested in glory as the Lamb’s wife, but here the woman is seen as a mother. Isaiah 9:6 and Romans 9:5 come forcibly before our minds―

“For unto us (i.e., Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given,” etc.

“Of whom (i.e., Israel) as concerning the flesh Christ came.”

We may also add Mic. 5:2. — “Bethlehem Ephratah... out of thee shall He come forth.”

1. The Woman Clothed with the Sun.

The woman, Israel, is seen clothed with the sun. Though in herself nothing but weakness, she is seen according to God’s own mind toward her. It is the purpose of God concerning her the sun symbolizing supreme power and glory. And so it will be for Israel in that day when Christ, the Sun of righteousness, will arise and associate Israel with Himself in that work of judgment on the wicked and subsequent blessing for the millennial earth (Mic. 4:1-3).

The Church’s connection with Christ is as the Bright and Morning Star; Israel has to do with Him as the Sun of righteousness.

But not only this, the moon is under her feet. The moon speaks of derived and reflected light—inferior, too, and subordinate to the sun. May we not see in this a symbolic fulfillment of such predictions as we get in Deuteronomy 28— “The Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth..... And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath” (vs. 1:13).

The crown of twelve stars reminds us of the twelve tribes, which though scattered now through the government of God, will, in His faithfulness to His own promise, be seen filling their appointed places when Jerusalem will be builded as a city that is “compact together,”— “Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord” (Psa. 122:4).

However, the next verse takes us back to the past, to the time of the birth of Christ.

“And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered” (vs. 2).

A careful comparison of this verse with Isaiah 66:5-10 and Micah 4:10, verse 3 leaves little room for doubt that the time of Zion’s travail is here in view. It seems impossible to confine Revelation 12:2 to the birth of Christ historically. Old Testament prophecy seems to connect Zion’s travail, specially with the period of Judah’s great tribulation just before the full blessing of the kingdom.

But Revelation 12. passes over the whole period of the present dispensation and links together the time of Christ’s birth with the time of Jacob’s trouble. The death and resurrection of Christ, with all that these involve of blessing to the believer today, is not the subject. His birth and rapture are alone mentioned.

Some have seen in the rapture of the man-child an allusion to the rapture of the saints of this dispensation at the coming of the Lord. It is perfectly clear from Scripture that the saints of the Church period, along with those that died before Pentecost, will be “caught up” before Israel again becomes the object of God’s dealings, but we question whether the words “caught up unto God, and to His throne” can be applied strictly to any but Christ Himself. Who but a divine person could sit upon the throne of God? We have not forgotten Revelation 3:21, but there the distinction is drawn between Christ’s own throne and that of the Father.

2. The Great Red Dragon.

“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood (before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born” (12:3, 4).

Though the language is symbolic it is easy to interpret; verse 9 tells us that the dragon is that old serpent, the devil. But he is seen here in connection with the great empire of the last days, as we shall see later on. In Revelation 13:1 it is the Beast that is seen with seven heads and ten horns, and remembering the part that the Beast will play in the near future it is awful to think that the revived Roman Empire will be a sort of incarnation of Satan. It was the Roman Empire, under Herod, that sought to destroy Christ at His birth (Matt. 2). It was Pilate, the Palestinian representative of that Roman Empire, who finally gave the word for His crucifixion (Luke 23:24). But all the counsels of God were centered in Him.

3. The Man Child

It would be impossible to read verse 5 without seeing that Christ is meant by the man-child—

“And she (i.e., Israel) brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.”

Some have tried to, prove that the man-child was a certain class of Apocalyptic saints. But we have only to read Psa. 2. to be assured that Christ is meant, for He it is that is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. True the overcomers in Thyatira (Rev. 2:27) are promised association with Christ in the day of His power and rule.

But these overcomers under the Thyatira state of the professing church include the whole company that God can recognize as His own— “the rest in Thyatira.”

Another has written: ―

“The child is Christ; it is also the Church as associated with Christ. Like Christ she is to govern the nations (see Psalms 2. and Rev. 2:26, 27). The Church receives this power from her being associated with Christ; she will be also active in heaven. When the Lord Jesus comes again, it will be in the display of His authority, for He shall rule all nations with a rod of iron, and the Church will be with Him. It is what Christ will do when He has taken possession of His inheritance, and He will make the Church to be partaker with Him in the possession of the world.

“The man-child, then, is Christ, the head of the church which is His body. The man complete is Christ and the Church and they are hidden in God (‘caught up’). The woman, on the contrary, who was clothed with the sun, remains on the earth, and is in the desert. As soon as we are obliged to seek the woman on earth, it can be none else but the Jews.”

This first section of our chapter (12:1-5) is a most remarkable passage and calls for a careful and prayerful study. The life, death and resurrection of our Lord are not here in question, for the object that the Holy Spirit has before Him is not to establish the great doctrines of grace that are elsewhere abundantly taught in Holy Scripture. Nothing is here stated as to Christ but His birth at Bethlehem (Matt. 2) and His ascension from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1).

In like manner the whole period of the Church on earth is passed over in silence. The main subject of the chapter is “The woman,” and this, we have suggested, is the Jewish “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she flan) a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days” (vs. 6).

4. The Dragon and the Woman.

“The mighty drama of the last half week is given in a general sketch” (Hartridge), and the parties are described that will be involved in the happenings of the great Tribulation which many believe the spiritual and political movements of our time are rapidly developing.

The Devil is the great opposer of all God’s purposes, and he is here seen to be the deadly foe of Israel in the last days. He will stir up all the nations of the earth against her, but “they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel.”

“And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion: THE KINGDOM SHALL COME TO THE DAUGHTER OF JERSALEM”

(Mic. 4:8).

Chapter 30

The Archangel Michael and the Dragon.

Revelation 12:7-17.

The fifth verse of our chapter (12:5) has carried us on to the time of Christ’s present exaltation to glory. The Church period, as we have seen, is passed over in silence, and verse 6 links on the time of Israel’s tribulation in the future with Herod’s persecution in the past. It is most important to see this parenthesis of nearly 2,000 years.

It was Israel that was prominent in the days when Christ was born at Bethlehem. It is Israel that will be in full view when Christ comes to this earth the second time. It was the Roman Empire that was in power when He came the first time; it will be the same Empire resuscitated that will be wielding Satanic power when He comes the second time. Again, we say, the present Church period is passed over in silence, for in truth at this stage of the Apocalypse the Church is already in heavenly glory.

“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days” (vs. 6).

This carries us down to the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week.

War in Heaven.

The first six verses give us a continuous history from the birth of Christ right down to the end of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9. A new division in the chapter commences with verse 7, but must not be taken as following on verse 6 in consecutive order.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.”

“And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven” (verses 7, 8) Before the great tribulation on earth for the Jewish people there is war in heaven. Satan, who could not keep the heavenly saints out of heaven, no, not one of them, will strive by all his power to prevent the accomplishment of God’s purpose with regard to His earthly people.

In the words of another— “The grand main-spring is here dealt with, the hidden secret of all evil, the opposing force to all God’s purposes of blessing to man, His creature, formed for the purpose of being the exponent of Himself and His ways in heaven and earth. This opposing force has occupied the heavenly places. Thus Isaiah 24:21— “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high.”

“This is here seen as accomplished (Rev. 12:7,8). And as Daniel 12:1 puts it: — “At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people” (the Jews).

“It takes place at this point; there is war in heaven”; [Hartridge].

It may to some seem strange to hear that Satan is in heaven. But let us not forget that even now the Christian has to wrestle—not with flesh and blood (as was the case with Israel in Canaan), but—with wicked spirits in the heavenlies. Yet this “war in heaven” is quite distinct from the conflict which every Christian is called to wage with the rulers of the darkness of this age (Eph. 6).

This is the time when Michael, the Archangel, will stand up for the children of Daniel’s people, the Jews (Dan. 12:1). The time has now been reached when the great deceiver of the world, and the accuser of the saints must be cast out. It had been foreseen by the Lord Himself when the seventy with joy described the results of their mission and the subjection of Satan to the claims of Christ. This was a foretaste of the powers of the world to come.

“And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18).

The initiative seems to be taken by Michael, and on behalf, not of Christians, but of the Jewish people. In Daniel 10:21, we read of “Michael your prince,” and here in Revelation 12. we are in the midst of the circumstances of the great time of trouble for the Jews.

Rejoicing in Heaven.

The conflict is sharp, strong, and decisive. The Dragon and his angels fight but to no purpose.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (vs. 9).

A loud voice is now heard calling attention, as elsewhere in this book, to a great public fact. The announcement is made of the setting up of the kingdom in power and glory (cf. Rev. 11:15). Satan is cast out of heaven, never more to be found there again, and this immense change calls forth the praise and gladness of the inhabitants of heaven.

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” (vs. 10).

It is interesting and important to inquire who are those that speak these words. That they are a company of saints in heaven is clear. They speak out of the consciousness of their own relationship to God—for they say “our God.” They have brethren still upon the earth “our brethren.” Some have thought they arc the saints caught up at the coming of the Lord, the saints of this period, glorified and associated with Christ as part of the man-child. Personally, we do not think so. The Church is not seen in Revelation 12. as a distinct and separate company. So far as the saints of the rapture period are concerned the utmost that can be said is that they are in some mystical way to be seen in the catching up of the man-child in verse 5.

Martyrs Under the Fifth Seal.

But in verse 10 we find a well-defined group of saints in heaven owning a special link with other saints on earth. Are they not the martyrs under the fifth seal? In Rev. 6:11 These are distinctly told to wait until “their brethren” should be killed as they were. We suggest that these are at any rate some of those very “brethren.”

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (vs. 11).

Clearly these brethren on earth are a band of martyrs for they loved not their lives unto the death. This forms a powerful link with the martyrs already glorified, mentioned in the earlier part of this book. Their victory was a moral one: though slain, they were victorious.

“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the seal for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (vs. 12).

There is joy in heaven, though terrible things are about to take place on earth. When Christ came the first time there was the blessed proclamation of peace on earth and goodwill to men. That having been refused and Christ rejected, now the moment has come for the once despised King to reign. This moment is foreseen in Luke 19:38—

The Devil cast out of heaven, and all his angels—oh, what a deliverance for heaven! The Devil came down to earth—what unspeakable woe to earth!

It is an awful thing to contemplate the contrast between the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in this day of grace, and the presence actually on earth of the Devil in that day. The Holy Spirit fills hearts with love, joy, and peace; but the Wicked One urges on to hatred, murder, and violence of every kind; and this Evil One it is that for the short period of the last half-week will stir up every kind of iniquity amongst even the men of this world—filled with wrath because he knows his time is short.

Satan, though not omniscient as God is, has more knowledge than mere man. Satan KNOWS the Bible more than most men. Satan BELIEVES the Bible more than most men. He quoted it at the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness. Satan has been attacking the book of Daniel so violently—and never more than in our time—using professed Christian ministers as his tool. We verily believe he understands the “seventy weeks” prophecy of Daniel 9. far better than the bulk of those who occupy the pulpits of the land. When he is cast out of heaven “he KNOWETH that he hath but a short time”—only 1260 day’s!

We have already referred to that remarkable terse in Isaiah 24— “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.”

Both parts of this verse will be seen fulfilled when the great drama of Revelation 12. is accomplished. The Devil who stirred up Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Jews and Gentiles to try and slay the Babe of Bethlehem that was born King of the Jews, will at the end incite the Beast and ten kings and all their armies against the Lamb, but all in vain, for—THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL REIGN IN MOUNT ZION, AND IN JERUSALEM, AND BEFORE HIS ANCIENTS GLORIOUSLY.

“The inhabiters of the earth”— Who are they? We suggest it is a symbolic way of describing those that occupy the more ordered scene of earthly government, the nations and peoples more immediately in connection with Europe and Palestine. “The inhabiters of the sea”— are these not the general mass of nations outside the limits of settled and established principles of government? All, both earth and sea, will be thrown into violent consternation and affliction—Devil-driven.

Flight into the Wilderness.

“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child” (vs. 13).

Remembering that the heavenly saints composing the Church are at this time in glory, and that the woman represents Israel, we here see that the Jewish people will become the object of Satan’s malicious and violent hatred. This is the time of the beginning of the tribulation, which will terminate by the appearing in glory of the Son of man.

At this point it is most interesting to compare chapter 11. and 12. In chapter 11:3 we have seen that at this very time, namely, the 1260 days there will be a persecuted and martyred remnant inside Jerusalem itself. But in chapter 12. it is the Jewish remnant outside the city that is in view. We read of this Judean remnant in Matt. 24:15-21. This remnant it is that flees into the wilderness; and this is not an accidental flight, but one ordered by the lord Himself and to a place prepared of God

“When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand):

“Then let them which be in Judea (note, it does not say Jerusalem) flee unto the mountains,” etc.

God intervenes on behalf of this remnant, and grants them a rapid escape.

A Place Prepared of God.

“And to the woman were given two wings of a (or, the) great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (vs. 14).

Here we have symbolic language denoting a powerful and rapid means of escape, like to that which God wrought at an earlier stage of their history when on eagles’ wings He brought them to Himself (Ex. 19:4). We must not imagine that this in any way whatever refers to the Roman eagles, as some would have us believe!

An interesting question here arises, What is this place prepared of God in the wilderness where the woman will be fed for 1260 days? The Jews had already returned in unbelief to Palestine, even as they are doing in large numbers today. But at this particular moment the persecutions of Antichrist and the Beast become so intense that those who are able to do so, flee from the fields of Judea, and apparently find a refuge in deserts around Jerusalem to the north, east, and south.

In Psalms 120, which describes the distress of the Jewish remnant in those last days, we find some dwelling in Mescal. (Russia) to the north, and Kedar to the south of Palestine, whilst in Isaiah 16:4, God calls upon Moab to the east, to be a covert to His “outcasts” from the face of the spoiler.

It has been thought by some that the wonderful rock-hewn city of Petra in the land of Moab may yield protection of absolute security from attack to large numbers. At any rate there stand these massive halls and chambers hewn out of the solid mountain of rock, at present tenantless. Be this as it may God has prepared a place of hiding from the fury of the dragon, where not only security but sustenance will be provided (vss. 6,14).

“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood” (vs. 15).

This flood is symbolical of masses of people (Isa. 59:19)— “when the enemy shall come in like a flood.” But in some way known to God the effort of the adversary will be frustrated.

Palestine, Rome and Russia.

We know from prophecy that the Assyrian will invade Palestine at the end crisis (see Isa. 8:7-22). The Assyrian stands for the vast hordes of the north and east of Palestine under the leadership of Russia (see Ezekiel 38, 39) and this is likened to the waters of a river, strong and many. The Serpent will launch at the Jewish people this flood, but―

“The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth” (vs. 16).

The earth we have suggested, in prophetic language stands for those countries where order and civilization have for long existed. Palestine is fast becoming the Center of all international interest. Italy is rapidly extending her influence towards the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and covets control of Palestine. It seems probable that should any direct move be made on the part of Russia or the Far East to take possession of Palestine and all the wealth of the world which will soon be concentrated there (see Isa. 60:9,17), the Roman Empire will step in. It will be a conflict between “the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea.” We are not here told how it will be done, whether by military protection or diplomacy. God will have His own way of doing it, even as He will have His own time for doing it. It may be by the conflict in which the king of the north will be engaged in the neighborhood of Palestine at this very time (see Dan. 11:40-45).

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (vs. 17).

Foiled and baffled in his effort to destroy the Jewish people, which the devil has all down the ages been seeking to do, he alters his method of attack. It is not now against a whole nation, using other nations as his tool, but against the remnant of her seed that he wages a war of persecution.

God will not leave Himself entirely without witness. Both in Jerusalem, exposed to the full brunt of the persecution, and in the wilderness hidden away by God Himself, He will have faithful, obedient, godly witnesses. Many of these will join the martyr band.

“Heaven receives them in delight (vs. 12) as those of whom the earth was not worthy, — a gleaning after harvest, as it were, of wheat for God’s granary, — a last sheaf of the resurrection of the saints, which the twentieth chapter (Rev. 20:4) sees added to the sitters upon the thrones, among ‘the blessed and holy now complete. How well are they cared for who might seem left unsheltered to Satan’s enmity! They have lost the earthly blessing, they have gained the heavenly; their light has been quenched for a time, to shine in a higher sphere forever. Blessed be God!” [Grant].

Chapter 31

The Beast out of the Sea.

Revelation 13:1-10.

It may be well to recapitulate the closing verses of chapter 12.

First, Satan as the Dragon full of wrath is cast into the earth; he turns his whole energy against the Jewish people in bitter persecution (vs. 13).

Then God intervenes on their behalf, giving them power to flee. In this present dispensation we are bidden to resist the devil and he will flee, but at that time the Jews are to flee and not resist; they will be nourished during the terrible tribulation of the three years and a half in a prepared place, hidden away from the serpent (vs. 14).

The serpent will then seek to overwhelm the woman by means of armies inspired by him to carry out his will. This will doubtless be the commencing activity of the great north-eastern confederacy of nations, Gog and Magog (see Ezekiel 38, 39., and Isaiah 8:7, 8). For this the Far East is rapidly preparing by all that is now taking place in China, Japan, India and Persia, to say nothing of Russia. Soon the East will be one vast armed camp (vs. 15).

But God will not allow His people, the Jews, to be destroyed— “the earth helped the woman” — the earth, that formed system of things found in Europe in contrast to the Oriental people. It will not be to the interest of the European nations to allow the Jews to be crushed, diplomacy will intervene on their behalf. It does not appear to be an armed conflict between the nations; it is not yet the Armageddon that even men of the world are now dreading. The West will not allow the East to seize Palestine and exterminate the Jewish people. From a human point of view it will be a triumph of diplomacy, but in reality, God’s providential ordering of the affairs of His earthly people (vs. 16).

The dragon’s wrath still remains, though it be impotent in the direction of national extinction; his persecution assumes an individual character, the whole brunt of his wrath falls now on the faithful remnant who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (vs. 17).

The Gentile Scene

The working of Satan is now turned in another direction, and in-chapter 13. we are introduced to the Gentile scene, as in chapter 12. we have had the Jewish.

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy” (13:1).

In the opening verses of this chapter we are given a description of the great Gentile power of the last days. As in Daniel 7, so here, the beast rises out of the sea. The sea in prophetic and symbolic language denotes the state of confusion and unrest of nations—everything in tumultuous upheaval. Is not this what characterizes the world at large today? Socially, politically, and religiously all is in confusion “The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually” (Psa. 74:23), This state of tumultuous unrest is bound to increase, and out of it will suddenly emerge a great ruling power, a Gentile power, the last of the four described in Daniel 7, viz., the Roman Empire. This is what the prophetic Scriptures have foretold both in Daniel and Revelation more than 2,000 years ago, and as we write that very Empire is rapidly rising out of its age-long condition of disintegration.

It would be almost impossible for anyone to read Daniel 7. along with Revelation 13. and 27. without being convinced that the Old and New Testament prophets are describing the same world-power.

The remarkable thing about this last great Gentile power called “the beast” is that whereas it existed as a united Empire in the past, it has ceased thus to exist, but is destined to be revived. Revelation 17:8 makes this perfectly clear— “the beast that was, and is, not, and yet shall be.” This we may leave until we reach that portion of the prophecy, but it is necessary to remember this threefold description in order to have a clear understanding of our chapter.

We are now living in the non-existent stage of the fourth beast. That is to say, the Roman Empire is broken up, and no longer exists as a united world power.

The different countries that now constitute a large part of Europe are but the broken fragments, but without the cohesion that existed in the days of the Caesars. But the time is drawing near when in the ways of God it will revive. Indeed we may say that this revival is rapidly taking shape.

The present state of unrest and confusion in the world, so aptly described by the tumultuous movement of the sea, will be the providential origin of this great European combine of nations. In chapter 11:7, as also in chapter 17:8, we are told what will be the moral origin of this last political power. It will ascend out of the bottomless pit, an awful thing to contemplate. And so it is that it is described as having seven heads and ten horns, thus being closely identified with the dragon of chapter 12:3.

The same figure is used here as in Daniel to describe the empire—it is a wild beast still. Unlike man, a beast has no knowledge of God, and owns no allegiance to Him. This essentially characterizes the state of the heathen (Psa. 79:6), but here at the close not only ignorance of God, but the ignorance of apostasy marks the beast “upon his heads names of blasphemy.”

The Heads and Horns.

The heads seem to imply varying forms of government that have held sway amongst the Roman people, and that are known to all readers of Roman history—triumvirs, decemvirs, consuls, dictators, etc.; whereas the horns represent separate kingdoms which will go to form the revived empire, united together as we know they will be under one imperial head.

The empire itself is called the beast, though sometimes this term is limited to the great head of the empire—see, e.g., Revelation 17:16, where we should read: “the ten horns which thou sawest AND the beast,” not “upon.” In our chapter the horns are seen to be crowned, for it is the last phase of the empire that is in view; ancient Rome never had this division into ten kingdoms.

Names of blasphemy are seen on the heads of the beast, not on its horns; by this we are given to understand the terrible character of this power. It will be the government of the day, and God will be entirely ignored, not only ignored but blasphemed—not necessarily by each of the ten kings, for there may still be some remains of outward acknowledgment of God by individual kings, but the empire as a whole in the ordering of its affairs will leave God out entirely. Do we not see the world preparing for this today? Though Russia will be entirely outside the geographical limits of the Roman Empire, yet we have an object lesson there of the unspeakable horrors of a nation given over to atheism, blasphemy and the caricaturing of religion. Even in our own beloved land is not all respect for God, His word, His day, and His claims rapidly disappearing? What will it be when “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” the true Christians are removed?

“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were like unto the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (vs. 2).

In some remarkable manner this great instrument of Satan’s energy will combine the various qualities of all the Gentile powers of the past (compare Dan. 7). They are enumerated here in their reverse order, for we are looking back from the point reached in our chapter. The rapidity in conquest of the leopard (Greece), the voracity of the bear (Persia), and the overpowering strength of the lion (Babylon) will be united in this last phase of the Roman Empire, which will come upon the scene before the dragon is cast out of heaven.

A Covenant with Hell

We see from Daniel 9:27, that the chief of this empire will confirm a covenant with the Jews for the last week, whereas it is during the last half of this week that the dragon, cast out of heaven, persecutes the woman. The dragon will find in the beast a ready instrument for his wicked devices. This coincides with Daniel 9:27, where we read that the Roman prince will break off his covenant with the Jews in the midst of the week and force idolatry upon them. This covenant is called a covenant with death and an agreement with hell (Isa. 28:15).

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (vs. 3).

Even today, and that amongst so-called Christian ministers, the fact of Christ’s literal and bodily resurrection is called in question. At that day Satan’s imitation of the resurrection will fill the world with wonder. In the early days of Christianity there were found some who explained away the fact of resurrection, saying that it had passed already (1 Cor. 15.), and so undermining the whole Gospel in its foundation, and in its effect for the believer. In days that are coming Satan will travesty the resurrection, and make capital out of it for his own ends, and for the entangling of the world in his toils.

“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with Him?” (vs. 4).

It would seem that the power of the revived empire may have even begun to wane. It will have received a deadly wound in one of its heads, probably the imperial form of government, when the dragon cast down to earth from heaven, and filled with hell-born hate to God and His Christ, will instill a fresh energy of evil into the beast, heal its deadly wound, and inspire it with “great authority.” Awful thought! Diabolically inspired, wondered after for a little while by the world, worshipped in common with the dragon, it will go into perdition, as we shall see later on (Rev. 19). For this brief period of 1,260 days its power will be irresistible; apostate Christendom will be found worshipping Satan and his human tool.

“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power (‘authority’) was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” (vs. 5 and 6).

The Little Horn.

The beast from the sea of Revelation 13. and the little horn of Daniel 7:8, 20, are evidently the same individual. Proof of this is seen in the mouth of boastful arrogance, and the period of their brief career, viz., forty-two months in the one case (Rev. 13:5), and time, times and the dividing of time” (Dan. 7:25), in the other. He will rail against God, that is the very thing that Bolshevists are doing in Russia, caricaturing the most sacred themes in connection with our Lord Jesus Christ. Them that “dwell in heaven,” that is the saints already caught up and glorified, will draw forth his special venom; but he will not be able to touch them, they are beyond his reach, so that he will turn his diabolical rage in another direction.

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” (vs. 7).

Who are these saints? They are the godly Jewish remnant that has been frequently alluded to in these Studies. Large numbers of them will be put to death.

“And power (authority) was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (vs. 7).

This shows how wide extended will be the sway of this power, centralized at Rome. But it will only be of brief duration.

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain” (vs. 8).

We notice again the expression “all that dwell upon the earth,” which occurs frequently in this book. The “earth dwellers” are not merely the inhabitants of the earth as such, but a special class morally distinguished from the “kindreds and tongues and nations.” It aptly describes those who have had the advantage of Christian testimony but have refused it. Heaven had been offered to them, but they chose the earth. This is a very solemn consideration as we behold multitudes around us in all ranks of life who have no room in their hearts for Christ.

If any Man Have an Ear, let Him Hear.

To recapitulate, the little horn of Daniel 7. is the head with its deadly wound healed of Revelation 13 In the arrogance of its Satanic power it pours forth blasphemies against everything that has to do with God and with heaven (vs. 6), it will make war successfully with the Jewish saints alive upon the earth, it will wield for a time world-wide power (vs. 7); apostate Christendom, at last relieved from all restraint of educational belief in Christ, will fling itself into the arms of this atheistical leader.

Chapter 32

Who is Like Unto the Beast?

Revelation 13:4.

It is remarkable that God gave during the last century such clear light upon prophecy. Much that is now taking place in the world and in the professing Church, and which is filling the minds of serious people with surprise and dismay, was then most distinctly pointed out from the Word of God.

We find ourselves now in the midst of the alarmingly rapid development of those very things which formed the subject matter of much that these servants of the Lord were led of Him to minister from His Word. When first they wrote, Christians were but ill prepared to receive their testimony. It was the common belief that the world was getting better and that the Millennium would soon be set up. To be told that the Lord was coming to remove the Church in the twinkling of an eye met with little favor.

But today the state of the world is such that men are startled into inquiring what can be the end of these things.

So far as the world is concerned things will go from bad to worse. We say this not as a mere matter of opinion, but as the distinct forecast given to us by God Himself in the Scriptures of truth. Of course, if men refuse the light of God’s inspired Word, darkness must be their portion. But whether or no, the spectre of Communism and anarchy is already filling the world with terror. Everything is in a state of unrest. Satan is breathing out sedition and strife amongst the nations of the earth.

In Daniel 7:2 The four winds of heaven are seen striving upon the great sea. What a vivid picture rises to the mind of a seething, boiling mass of waters. Out of that the great Gentile powers arose. Revelation 13:1 presents the same figure, and foretells the uprising in its resuscitated form of the last imperial power.

Principles are at work today which are leading to world-wide catastrophe. Mass movements are seen in Russia and China, and spreading to other lands, with which governments are unable to cope. The world cannot continue its existence under such conditions. All seem powerless to remedy it. The conflict between capital and labor, and the embitterment of feeling between the masses and the classes is paralyzing industry and bringing many countries within measurable distance of civil war.

Government is impotent.

Wanted a Man!

This is a constant cry. Who knows but what this man is even now maturing his plans for the settlement of all this strife? The eyes of Europe are now upon Italy, and in Mussolini we see a man who has risen almost miraculously out of obscurity into irresistible power. His word is law! His power in Italy is supreme! To all outward appearance he seems a sort of prototype of the superman people so often speak of. We are far from suggesting that Mussolini himself is the beast out of the sea, but we have little doubt that he is rapidly preparing the way for the man who will fulfill in every detail what is given in Revelation 13:1-8.

The beast will rise up out of the sea (Rev. 13:1). The “sea” may have a double significance. Some see in this expression a hint of locality, the Mediterranean sea. Italy is now claiming supreme acknowledgment in the Mediterranean. But as we have suggested the “sea” may be interpreted symbolically. Above the wild noise of human anarchy the lion’s roar will soon make Europe tremble (vs. 2). Satan will invest him with his authority, and will revive the mighty Roman Empire, causing once again an Emperor to take supreme command. The earth long dismayed and perplexed by the tyranny of anarchy will hail the advent of this great Emperor as a Deliverer. Men will be filled with admiration of his astuteness, and having given God up, will themselves be given up to the worship of Satan and his human tool.

Who is Like Unto the Beast?

This is the cry that will resound throughout Europe. Who is able to make war with him? will be the challenge laid down before the colossal powers of Russia, Germany, and the Far Eastern nations.

To some it may seem strange to write with such precision, but the prophetic Scriptures leave no room to doubt that the revived Roman Empire, composed of the ten kingdoms of Western Europe, will at the close find itself arrayed against the massed forces of Gog and Magog.

The Gog of Ezekiel (Ezek. 38:7) would seem to be the Assyrian of Isaiah, and the Asshur of Psalms 8 and Numbers 24:24. This latter passage foretold three thousand five hundred years ago the final conflict between the West and the East.

“And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim (i.e., the West), and shall afflict Asshur (i.e., the East), and shall afflict Eber (i.e., Israel), and he (i.e., Chittim) also shall perish forever.”

In these few lines the Spirit of God has compressed the stupendous events, so far as earthly matters are concerned, of the closing drama of the nations, viz., the conquest of the East by the West and the destruction of this latter in its turn.

From Scripture it is clear that the Roman Empire is to revive (Rev. 17:8, R.5). In its closing phase it will consist of ten kings under one imperial head. By comparing Daniel 7. with Revelation 13, we cannot but be impressed with the identity of the little horn of the former chapter with the beast of the latter. In each case arrogant and blasphemous words are spoken against God and against the heavenly saints, or, “saints of the high places.” By this latter term we understand the saints caught up at the coming of the Lord. The beast cannot touch them though he hates them, any more than he can touch the Most High Himself. It is but impotent rage.

But there are those on earth, as we have seen, whom he can touch, against these he makes war, and is allowed of God to overcome them. These are Jewish saints, who at that time will be carrying out the ceremonial law of God. But “the little horn” will change all this and prevent the Jewish remnant from performing their religious observances. These Jewish “laws and times” are given into his hands for “a time, times and the dividing of time.” This expression means the well-known period of three and a half years, or the last half of the seventieth week.

The Little Horn.

The “prince that shall come” (Dan. 9:26) is the same as “the little horn” of Daniel 7. We must not confound this with the little horn of Daniel 8, who is a different personage altogether. The former will confirm a covenant with the Jews for one week or seven years, but in the midst of the week he breaks off this covenant, and causes their sacrifice and oblation to cease. This is evidently the same thing as the changing of the times and laws mentioned in Daniel 7:25—the Jewish ceremonial times and laws.

It is remarkable to see the move that is now being made by Italy towards imperialism. The daily press is constantly speaking of this, little knowing, of course, the rόle that Italy is to play in the future of this world’s politics. Prophetic students have long been aware of this, and are now watching with the deepest interest, mingled with awe, the developments of our times. May not the great movement now taking place in that land be preparatory to the accomplishment of this prophetic forecast?

When the ten kingdoms have been brought into being and are territorially recognized, another kingdom shall arise amongst them; so we learn from Daniel 7:8. Small in its beginning this little horn will rapidly extend its power until three of The ten kingdoms are subdued. It thus becomes an eighth.

The Beast and the Ten Kings.

It may seem difficult to disentangle and apportion the places that will be separately filled by all these powers of the last crisis, and we must remember that Scripture is not given to us as a geometrical puzzle but for moral and spiritual application. Nevertheless it seems clear that at the time of the end after the ten kings are definitely established—it may be by means of treaties and such an organization as the League of Nations—that then an unknown man will arise amongst them who by means of extraordinary intellectual insight (“the eyes of a man”), coupled with violent pretensions to power (“whose look was more stout than his fellows”) will seize the reins of earthly rule and mature his plans of world dominion regardless of man or God. Later on we shall see that he will hurl himself against the Lord coming out of heaven followed by His armies (read Daniel 7, Revelation 13, 17., 19.).

All that dwell upon the earth will worship him; these are not merely the inhabitants of the earth, but a moral class, those that have made the earth their dwelling place by positive and deliberate choice—in other words, apostate Christendom. These are distinguished from the kingdoms, tongues and nations of the previous verse (see also 11:9, 10, and 14:6). Their names may have been written in books of church membership, but they have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain. That this is the order of the words of verse 8 may be inferred by comparing chapter 17:8.

We then are given a principle applicable at all times, and especially at the time when these things will be taking place (vss. 7,10). The saints are not called to resist but to suffer, sustained by their faith in Jesus (ch. 14:12). These will be the saints of the Apocalyptic period, many of whom will be martyred and others who will flee to hiding places in the mountains and in the wilderness.

Chapter 33

The Beast out Oil the Earth.

Revelation 13:11-18.

In taking up the pen to expound this portion of our chapter, we do so with feelings of awe, and would seek the help of God’s Holy Spirit, for the time of the accomplishment of these solemn prophecies is near.

The first beast of this chapter is clearly the Roman Empire which is destined to revive, which is even now reviving before the eyes of an astonished world. When all Europe is seething with anarchy, and the waves of “the sea” of social unrest are lashing themselves into fury, when the whole fabric of society is threatened with destruction, suddenly, out of this boiling sea of revolution and civil strife, a man will arise who will curb the passions of his fellows, control their unbridled wills, and combine them under his own Dragon-given power and authority. An empire of militarism it will be that will hold the rest of the world in check.

The unrest of the nations will subside to the wonder of the whole world, when, lo! out of this ordered state of the social system—an order, produced not by the fear of God, but by the working of Satan—another power will arise.

This second beast arises out of the earth.

The tumultuous sea has been stilled, and an ordered condition of things has followed. This is what many understand by the word “earth” in contrast to the “sea” in prophetic language. This, however, does not exhaust the meaning of the contrast. In Daniel 7. the four beasts are said to arise out of the sea (vs. 3); this would seem to be their providential origin. But in verse 17 they arise out of the earth, and this suggests their moral origin. Further, the earth in Scripture is put in contrast to heaven (see 1 Cor. 15:47). The true Christ of God came down from heaven, but the Antichrist will be essentially “of the earth, earthy.”

The Jews will by that time be back in Palestine, they are even now returning in ever increasing numbers. It is in Palestine that this power will arise and will very soon put itself in connection with the Roman chief. All this was familiar to prophetic students long years ago. But now we are witnessing many things in process of fulfillment that were clearly foreseen in the pages of God’s Word.

False Christs.

We know from our Lord’s own lips that at the time of the end many shall arise claiming to be Christ (Matt. 24:23; Mark 13:21; Luke 21:8). The Jewish remnant of that day are specially set on their guard against all such pretenders. But amongst these many false Christs, one in particular will rise to eminence, and will monopolize the field. Symbolically he is here represented as a lamb with two horns; he is externally an imitation of God’s Lamb, but the inward power by which he speaks is that of Satan; he will be as full of Satan: as the Lord Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost (Luke 4:1).

Just as Jesus of Nazareth was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, and went about doing good, so this Antichrist—for we have no doubt that this second beast is the Antichrist—will exercise all the power of the first beast, which as we have seen is a power given by Satan.

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”

“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” (vss. 11,12).

We see this terrible character further on in the book (Rev. 19), under the title of “the false prophet.” We have elsewhere sought to show the identity of this beast with the Antichrist (see The Man of Sin; Who Will He Be?), and would now only suggest to the student of Revelation that “the king” of Daniel 11:36, the “Man of sin” of 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the “Antichrist of 1 John 2:22; the second “beast” of Revelation 13:14, and the “ False Prophet “ of Revelation 19:20, are all one and the same person looked at from different points of view and in connection with distinct spheres of influence―

“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” (vss. 13,14).

These miracles will be wrought by Satanic power, as 2 Thessalonians 2:9 informs us. Christendom, that has already given up all real faith in the Christ of God, and in the Word of God, will then itself be by God given up to strong delusion, and to believe a lie. The long-suffering of God being exhausted, its day of doom will have arrived.

“That they all might be judged (R.V.) who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:19,)

How terrible it is to think that these times are so quickly approaching, and that the people now alive, may witness these awful things! The startling discoveries of science will all be turned to account by the Antichrist for his own ends. We have long since ceased to wonder at the telegraph, the telephone, and the wireless. We can talk from London to New York and Melbourne. Television now makes it possible for one in London to talk to his friend in New York, and to see his face. It is not difficult then to believe that the Antichrist will be able to―

“Give life (or, breath) unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should he killed” (vs. 151.

From this it is clear that there will be saints on earth at that time who will remain faithful to God and His Christ. They will not be “Christians” in the sense that we attach to that word in this dispensation; that is to say, they will not form part of the “Church” which will already have been caught up at the coming of the Lord. But for all that they will be believers in Christ, converted Jews no doubt.

Martyrs Under Antichrist.

We have already seen from Rev. 6:9-11 That there will be a company of martyrs after the church period is over during the time immediately following the rapture, and most probably during the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week. This company of martyrs is noticed in Rev. 20:4 as taking part in the first resurrection. But in that verse there is a second company of martyrs, viz., “those which had not worshipped the beast,” etc., and these are slain during the last half of the week under the persecutions of the Antichrist and the Roman beast. It is important to notice carefully that Antichrist and the chief of the Roman Empire are two separate individuals, though, as our chapter proves, they are so closely linked that their actions are almost identical. The second company of martyrs (Rev. 20:4) are those spoken of in Revelation 13:15.

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (vss. 16, 17).

Boycotting and trade unionism, socialism, and syndicalism are rapidly preparing the way ‘for the tyranny of Antichrist’s rule. The democratic reforms of recent years have prepared a machinery that will soon be turned with irresistible tyranny upon the people themselves.

What awful times they will be, and yet how blessed to think that some will then be found keeping “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ.” Multitudes in the Middle Ages have gone to the stake rather than bow the knee before a “wafer God.” The days of persecution are not over, for when Antichrist makes his appearance, whenever he holds sway in Palestine and Europe, but especially in Palestine, the blood of the martyrs will flow. We say “especially in Palestine,” for it is there, we doubt not, that the image of the Beast will be placed.

Antichrist will set himself in the temple of God at Jerusalem to be worshipped as God (2 Thess. 2:4), but besides that he will honor “a god whom his fathers knew not” (Dan. 11:38). This has been before us in our Studies on the Book of Daniel.

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man: and his number is six hundred three score and six” (vs. 18).

Many have attempted to explain this symbolical number, but we believe the effort is futile. In Daniel 11 and 12 which describes the same period of time, we find frequent mention of a band of faithful people who at the time of the end will “understand.” To them it will be perfectly plain. God will, in some way known to Himself make clear to them the number of that fearful name Christians now find their joy in everything connected with the Name of Jesus. Through His peerless name they are forgiven, they are saved, and accepted; to His name they gather, and in His name their prayers ascend to heaven, and are answered. In that day the name of the Beast will be a terror to humanity.

Alas! alas! ye Christless men and women of these highly favored lands. To you the truth is now presented in all its sin-pardoning, soul-saving, and peace-giving power. All the blessings of the gospel, the unsearchable riches of Christ are now offered for present enjoyment as well as everlasting bliss; they are offered on the simplest of terms— “repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Why not bow the knee to Jesus now and own Him Lord? then all those infinite blessings will be yours for time and eternity. If not—then, Antichrist, his Satanic miracles, his deceivableness of unrighteousness, his tyrannical persecutions—and, worse than all, strong delusion from God, a well-merited judgment, and eternal perdition.

Which shall it be? Decide it now, but do so at once, for in the twinkling of an eye

THE DOOR WILL BE SHUT.

Chapter 34

The Lamb on Mount Zion.

Revelation 14:1-5.

We now approach a profoundly interesting part of our study. One, too, as to which much diversity of opinion exists, and that amongst earnest prophetic students. We desire to write in all humility and with christian charity, and crave a sober and prayerful consideration on the part of any who may differ from our interpretation.

In chapters 12 and 13 we have had a description of the powers and instruments of evil on the earth during the brief period of the Beast’s activities—the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, or Antichrist.

What a relief to find in chapters 14. a history of the ways of God on the earth during that same period, and continuing right on to the end of His acts of judgment.

The view point of these verses is not “heaven” as in chapter 12:1, nor is it that disturbed state of the nations as symbolized by the “sea” in chapter 13:1, nor is it the seat of the Beast, the seven-hilled city of Rome, as in chapter 17 Here we are called to view the Lamb upon Mount Sion, and those specially connected with Him there.

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name, and His Father’s name written in their foreheads” (verse 1, R.V.)

We believe that this is to be taken literally; It is Mount Sion at Jerusalem. No doubt in Hebrews 12:22, a symbolic meaning is intended, for there Sion is put in contrast with Sinai—grace versus law—and that contrast is explained in the passage itself as the heavenly Jerusalem.

But it does not follow that wherever the Mount Zion is spoken of it must be understood to mean heaven. Mount Zion is on the earth— “the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion” (Psa. 48:2). There is no spot on the earth so dear to the heart of God as Mount Zion “the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Psa. 87:2). The time is yet to come when “the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob” (Isa. 59:20). It is this time, we believe, that is in view in Revelation 14:1. Only there it is viewed in anticipation for we do not yet see God’s king set upon the throne in Sion (Psa. 2:6), as He most certainly will be. He is now set at the right hand of God in heaven, but presently He will take His place of earthly royalty at Jerusalem and with Him will be associated a band of faithful followers who had not shrunk from confessing His name during the awful persecutions of the Beast.

These “first fruits” are not a special and select part of the Church, for, if the key of chapter 1:19 be the true one, the whole church as well as all saints before Pentecost, and those martyred after the rapture will have been translated to heaven. These are a Jewish remnant spared for special association with Christ during the Millennium.

The Church’s portion is quite distinct; her calling is a heavenly one, whereas that of Israel is an earthly one. The glory of Christ is connected with both heaven and earth.

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “Of whom every family (R.V.) in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3:14, 15).

All things will be headed up in Christ, both those in heaven and those on earth (Eph. 1:10). Christ will be the Center of the whole universe of God, but different circles of relationship will be gathered round Him, some on earth, others in heaven.

We must not confound the 144,000 of this chapter with those of chapter 7. In chapter 7. the sealing seems of a more general character— “the servants of our ‘God.” But in chapter 14 they are not only “servants” but “sufferers”; they are closely associated with the suffering Lamb; the period of their suffering will be “the great tribulation,” the time of the Beast’s persecutions during the last half week.

We suggest that the 144,000 of Revelation 14. are drawn specially from the land of Palestine. They are not “slain” but “saved” (see Matt. 24:22). It would appear that they are the very ones described in our Lord’s prophetic utterances on the Mount of Olives. The 144,000 of Revelation 7. might well be those more widely scattered— “removed into all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deut. 18:25). At any rate it is clear that whereas there will be “martyred” remnants during the last week of Daniel 9, there will also be spared or “saved” remnants kept alive throughout that terrible time.

When Christ was here on earth He suffered at the hands of Israel for owning God as His Father. This the Jews would not tolerate, for it was, as they said, “making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18, 10:33).

Christendom is today denying the deity of Christ but during the awful three years and a half that is coming the Jewish remnant will make an open confession of this very thing, they will have His and His Father’s name upon their very foreheads. They will suffer for this, their witness, and will be in special association “with Him” on Mount Sion. He had suffered unto death; they are brought up, as it were, to its very gates, but are not slain; they thus are not included in the glorified company of martyrs in heaven, but they are very closely linked with them, and are so morally near to them that they, and they only, can learn the song that is sung before the throne. This is intensely interesting.

“And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps” (vs. 2. R.V.)

Heaven celebrates these events in majestic-tones; from thence proceed voices of glorious power and joyful praise.

“And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth” (vs. 3).

The harpers are in heaven, the sealed company are on Mount Sion; but the 144,000 are the only ones on earth who can learn that heavenly song. It is not exactly the new song of Revelation 5:9—they sung as it were a new song. In Revelation 5:9, the living creatures join with the elders in singing the new song; but the harpers’ song is not sung BY the living creatures and elders, but BEFORE them.

Who then are These Harpers.

Clearly they are not the saints of the Church period, tor they sing before these latter. There is a difference also in the song sung. In Revelation 5:9 there is a reason given for the song; which implies greater intimacy of worship, whereas here we have simply a public witness given to majestic might and joyful praise.

The beasts and elders are closely linked with the throne (Rev. 4:4, vs. 6), they are a heavenly company. The harpers are also in heaven, but not in such close relationship with the throne, they sing “before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders.”

It would appear, then, that we have in the harpers and the 144,000 the heavenly and the earthly portion of those faithful saints during the period that follows the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4 We have already referred to these under the seals and trumpets. The harpers are the martyred remnant of Israel, the 144,000 (both of Revelation 7 and 14) the spared remnant. They are the “elect,” for whose sakes those awful days of tribulation will be shortened (Matt. 24:15-24).

Morally so close to heaven that they can learn the song sung there by their brethren who had chosen death rather than bow the knee to the image of the Beast set up by Antichrist (ch. 13:15), they are redeemed or “purchased” from the earth, but still on the earth. They are the first-fruits of that fullness of blessing in which both Gentiles and Israel will share in the millennial earth.

“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These are redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb” (vs. 4).

The Millennium is not yet established, but it is fully in view. Evil has been developing with terrible rapidity. Satan has been sealing his followers in their foreheads, openly setting them apart for himself and to carry out his dark designs. But God has purposes which He has even now made known to us. —

“Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself:”

“That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one (or, head up) all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Eph. 1:9, 10)

That dispensation of the fullness of times is nearing; it is the Millennium. Christ will be the bond of union between the earthly and the heavenly glories of that period. The rapture saints and the apocalyptic martyrs will be the heavenly portion, the palm-bearing multitude of Gentiles and the sealed of Israel (Rev. 7. and 14) will be the earthly portion—all linked together in Christ.

Just as Satan has sealed the followers of the Beast, so God has sealed the followers of the Lamb. They follow ed Him in suffering, they will follow Him in earthly royalty.

Idolatry and Corruption.

Verse 4 speaks of moral defilement. During the period in which these saints are witnessing for God, idolatry and corruption will be all around. There will be idolatry at Jerusalem under Antichrist, who will set up the image of the Beast to be worshipped, setting himself for this purpose in the temple of God (2 Thess. 2), then rebuilt. Besides this, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth (Rev. 17), will be in full power, controlling the Beast, and causing the blood of the martyrs of Jesus to flow, as she has ever done when possessing the power to do so. These followers of the Lamb will keep themselves from all idolatrous corruption of those days— “for they are virgins.”

Not only this, but in their mouth was found no lie. The apostasy will at that time be in full development. Christendom will be given over by God to believe a lie. This will be God’s judgment upon men, for their rejection of the truth (2 Thess. 2), for it is a great mistake to imagine that things are going to improve in Christendom. But “in their mouth was found no lie.” Great foundation doctrines which are today being abandoned by preachers and teachers in almost every section of the professing church, will presently find ardent and fearless advocates amongst Jewish witnesses.

The chief factor in unbelief today in large numbers of churches and theological colleges is the denial of the deity of Christ. These saints will confess it openly, they will have it stamped upon their foreheads.

But not only is their doctrine sound, their conduct will be blameless—they are “without fault.” It is important to notice the omission of the clause “before the throne of God,” for the point here is practical conduct before men, and not ground of acceptance with God.

Chapter 35

The Everlasting Gospel.

Revelation 14—continued.

We have seen in the opening verses of our chapter the results of the grace of God acting towards that part of Israel that will be found in Palestine during the final crisis of the times of the Gentiles. Antichrist and the Beast energized by Satan will be in deadly and united activity violently oppressing those who confess their faith in God and His Son.

There will be a special and peculiar work of His grace. Whilst many will be martyred a definite number will be delivered, who are called “first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.”

Christians now have “the first-fruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23). Our lot is cast in the days of the groans and travail of creation; but the bondage of corruption is to give place to “the liberty of the glory of the children of God.”

In other words, when we reach the glory at the coming of the Lord, and enter upon the inheritance already purchased for us, then, for us, the groans of creation will cease. The Spirit of God Who now seals the believer is the earnest of that purchased possession (Eph. 1:14), and thus carrying on our thoughts to those glorious scenes becomes the “first-fruits” of them to our souls. We are not the first-fruits, but we have the first-fruits. But during the last “half week” these redeemed (or, purchased) companions of the once suffering Lamb are themselves the first-fruits of the harvest of millennial blessing.

But God’s grace during those dark days is not confined in its activity to the Jews, it spreads abroad to every quarter of the earth.

The Three Angels.

The whole chapter now under review (Rev. 14) is divided into seven sections: —

1. The First-fruits—verse 1 to 5.

2. The Everlasting Gospel—verses 6,7.

3. The Fall of Babylon—verse 8.

4. The Doom of the Worshippers of the Beast—verse 9 to 11.

5. The Blessed Dead—verses 12,13.

6. The Harvest of the Earth—verses 15,16.

7. The Vintage of the Earth—verse 18 to 20.

Section 2:3 and 4 are grouped together as we gather from the mention of three angels that have to do with the events taking place at that time—the “third angel” of verse 9, supposes those of verse 6 and 8 to be the first and second. What the providential agents will be we cannot say, but the Spirit of God would lead us to note the difference between this angelic operation and the direct and visible execution of judgment by the Son of man Himself under section 6 and 7.

The Everlasting Gospel.

“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” (vss. 6, 7).

This everlasting gospel is not the same as the gospel that has been preached since Pentecost. The gospel of the grace of God by which the Church is called out from the world announces that “now is the day of SALVATION”; it assures the believer that eternal life is his present portion, and that he shall not come into judgment (John 5:24). But the everlasting gospel announces that the hour of JUDGMENT is come.

So long as the present dispensation continues it is the day of salvation, but at the time of which our chapter speaks the testimony will not be salvation for heaven, but escape from judgment on earth. It is God’s appeal to the nations far and wide who are sunk in idolatry to fear the one only God Who created all things, and to give glory to Him.

It is called the everlasting gospel for it is the old glad tidings sounding down from Eden, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. It was proclaimed by prophets of old: — “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day.”

“Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all people.”

“For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared above all gods.”

“For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens.”

“Say among the nations that the Lord reigneth.... He shall judge the people righteously ... for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth” (Psa. 96).

The everlasting gospel, we are told, will be preached to “them that dwell upon the earth,” as well as to “every nation,” etc., a distinction which has already been pointed out, and which occurs repeatedly in this book. The whole world will have sunk into idolatry, even professed Christian lands, as well as Jews and heathen. From chapter 13 we have learned that Antichrist causes the dwellers upon earth to worship the Beast, hence we can understand the universal call to acknowledge the true God as the one and only object of worship, unheeded though it will be by apostate Christendom, but largely accepted by the heathen nations.

The “gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 24:14), is no doubt very closely linked with this “everlasting gospel,” and its results in blessing and judgment are seen in Matthew 25:31-46.

The Fall of Babylon.

The second of the group of three angels here announces the fall of Babylon. The particulars of this judgment are described in chapters 17. and 18. It is no doubt introduced here that we may know the place this judgment occupies in the order of God’s dealings during the brief interval that follows the close of this present dispensation.

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (vs. 8).

Babylon in this book, as is well known, stands for ecclesiastical Rome, the Mother of Harlots, and abominations of the earth. She has always been idolatrous, and in the end, an end now nigh at hand, will be the source of corruption, intoxicating men with her golden cup of moral and spiritual fornication. Torment and sorrow (ch. 18:7) will be her well-merited portion in the hour of God’s judgment.

The Cup of God’s Indignation.

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the Beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name” (vss. 9-11).

The Beast continues for a short while after the fall of Babylon; this we see plainly from chapter 17:16, where we are told that the Beast destroys the Great Whore, which is Babylon. Indeed the worst state of the Beast in blasphemous rebellion against God will be after the destruction of Babylon.

How awful will the condition of men be at that time; they will have to choose between the violent rage of the atheistical Beast, and the wrath of God’s indignation. The worshippers of the Beast are doomed to the same eternal torment as the Beast himself (compare Revelation 14:10, 19:20, 20:10).

True faith in those days will be proved by refusing, to worship the Beast. Europe and Palestine will be the theater of this fearful ordeal.

Blessed are the Dead.

We now come to the fifth section of our chapter.

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them” (vss. 12, 13).

Unquestionably all who die in the Lord are blessed, at whatever period it may be. But we must put ourselves in thought into the circumstances of our chapter for a right understanding of this passage.

God or the Devil.

It will be the time of fearful crisis of the 42 months of the Beast’s blasphemous rage against God and all who own Him. The Devil’s effort will be to exterminate all recognition of God. Atheism will not at that time be a voluntary apostasy as it is today, but a compulsory tyranny. Nothing will deliver but the wearing of the badge imposed by the ruling authority of the government under the influence of the Beast whose seat of government will be at Rome, but whose sphere of influence will extend to Palestine, and especially to Jerusalem where the Antichrist will reign as the accepted king of apostate Israel.

Men are getting accustomed now to badges. Unions are already paralyzing private enterprise and exercise of individual conscience. This will grow to a terrible extent as we learn from Revelation 13:15-17. It will be the time spoken of by our Lord “as He sat upon the Mount of Olives.”

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.”

“Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains ... ”

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matt. 24:15-22).

All who refuse to worship the Beast and his image will be slain. It would seem that every true and faithful saint within the immediate jurisdiction of Antichrist will be slain; not only so, but they are slain just at the very time when the millennial kingdom of Christ is to be set up. How terrible, some might say, to be deprived just at the last moment of all this which others will be left to enjoy! But no, so far from being losers, they will be specially blessed.

The company here alluded to are the last who will be martyred for their faithful adherence to the Lord Jesus. We find them mentioned in Revelation 20:4, as forming part of the first resurrection. While other saints (such as the 144,000) will partake of the earthly blessing of the kingdom, these will share in the heavenly glory along with all the rapture saints. They are here seen about to rest from their labors during that terrible period, and about to enter into their bright reward without further delay.

The wicked dead at the CLOSE of the millennium will be JUDGED according to their works and CONEMNED, these at the BEGINNING of that period will be REWARDED according to their works and GLORI FIED.

The voice that speaks from heaven (vs. 13) we believe is the voice of the Lord Jesus Himself, and the Spirit adds His, “Yea.”

Chapter 36

The Harvest and the Vintage.

Revelation 14:14-20.

The two last sections of our chapter describe scenes of earthly judgment—the harvest of the earth, and the vine of the earth.

We must not forget that the completed Church had been already removed from the earth, “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air. This had taken place before the last week of Daniel’s seventy weeks commenced to run. This last week will terminate by the appearing of Christ as Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle” (vs. 14).

Wherever we read of the coming of Christ in the character of “the Son of man” it is always His coming in judgment, as may be seen from the study of such pass ages as Daniel 7:9-14; Matthew 13:36-43, 24:27-30: Luke 17:26-37.

“And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe” (vs. 15).

These are solemn words when we reflect upon their awful reality and the imminence of their fulfillment. In this gospel dispensation we are accustomed to speak of a harvest of souls, meaning thereby their salvation. But the harvest here spoken of is the end of the age (see Matt. 13:39); the kingdom of the Son of man is just about to be set up, and all things that offend must be gathered out of it.

At the rapture (1 Thess. 4) the saints will be gathered to meet the Lord in the air—the saints, that is, of all ages up to that point of time—and the wicked will be left behind for judgment. But at Christ’s appearing the wicked who are alive will be taken away in judgment, and the righteous will be left to enter the millennial kingdom.

The Wheat and Tares.

The tares so diligently sown by Satan, the great enemy of God and man, are springing up on all hands and spreading with startling rapidity. Large sections of pressing Christians are being separated off from all outward association with sound and spiritually minded Christians; they are being drawn together by their common adherence to some form of heretical teaching. Is this not somewhat like the binding together of the tares for burning? The tares are not ordinary unregenerate or unconverted people, they are the positive work of Satan sown amongst the wheat. No tare ever becomes wheat.

“The harvest of the earth is ripe,” these are solemn words. They imply that “the field,” which is “the world” (Matt. 13:38) is ripening for judgment. This ripening will proceed with terrible rapidity after the removal of the Holy Spirit at the rapture.

“As therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this age (or, dispensation).”

“The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” (Matt. 13:40, 41).

This, we believe, is the harvest described in Revelation 14. It is a discriminating harvest—a separating between tares and wheat. The tares are first dealt with; after that, the kingdom of the Son of man is set up here on earth. The wheat will be gathered into the barn, and the righteous will shine forth in the kingdom of their Father (see Matt. 13:30, 43). The millennial earth will be peopled by a multitude from all the nations that no man can number (Rev. 7:9), and besides this “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26). “The Lord of Hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem” (Isa. 24:23). This will be a glorious time of earthly peace and happiness.

“Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:3, 4).

The harvest of the earth as we have said will be a judgment separative in character.

“As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

“For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, “And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left,” etc. (Matt. 24:36-41).

In this passage those who are taken, are taken for judgment, and those who are left, are left for blessing on the earth. It is a mistake to apply these words to the rapture when the saints will be taken to heaven, and the world left behind for judgment.

The Great Wine-Press of the Wrath of God.

It is most instructive to consider the types in the O.T. in connection with the last two sections of our chapter (Rev. 14). We can here but briefly allude to Leviticus 23. This chapter describes the full ceremonial year of God’s dealings with His earthly people Israel, leading up to the feast of tabernacles Which typifies the rest that remains for them when gathered to their own land in a coming day. “All that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths,” we are told, and they will rejoice before the Lord their God in remembrance of His great deliverance wrought on their behalf. This feast, we are told, will take place “when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land,” that is, after the harvest.

But in Deuteronomy 16:13 we are told that the feast of tabernacles was to be observed “after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.” In other words, the earthly rest of millennial glory will take place after the harvest and vintage judgments described in Revelation 14.

“And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe” (vs. 18).

The vine of the earth! What a solemn expression is this. Israel had been Jehovah’s vine (Psa. 80 and Isa. 5) but had yielded nothing but “sour grapes,” though watched over and tended with the utmost care. Christ Himself then became the true vine, and His disciples were the branches. Abiding in Him, His people may bear fruit that glorifies His Father. But the vine of the earth speaks of judgment, and nothing but judgment. There is no separation of good from evil as in the harvest. The vintage is unmingled judgment of living People, “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (vs. 19).

How little do people tremble today at the wrath of God. The pulpits of Christendom have quieted their minds as to all such unpleasant themes. But “the wrath to come” is a reality of which the Bible speaks in no uncertain terms, and the earth through sin and unbelief is ripening for the outpouring of this judgment.

This is a judgment that will be executed by Christ in person upon the ungodly and apostate people round about Jerusalem. Religious apostates from all parts of Christendom may be there too, though the gathering of the people seems to be of a military nature. Palestine and the surrounding districts of Syria and Arabia are to become the battlefield of the world (Psa. 79. and 83.)

“And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs” (vs. 20).

This seems to be a similar judgment to that in Edom or, Arabia (Isa. 63:1-7) though nearer to the city of Jerusalem. The carnage will be terrible, even though the language be taken in a figurative sense. All nations will be gathered round about Jerusalem to battle (Zech. 14.; Joel 3). Suddenly the Lord Himself will appear and tread them down in His fury.

It will be seen that there are many different acts of judgment described in the Scripture. Through inattention to the Word, many Christians seem to think only of the judgment of the dead, but there is much more description in Scripture of the judgment of the living, and all judgment has been committed to the Son, that all men should honor Him (John 5). Christ is judge both of the quick and the dead. The judgment of the quick, that is the living, will take place at His appearing—that of the dead, not till a thousand years later, at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20).

Chapter 37.

The Seven Last Plagues.

Revelation 15

To a superficial reader there might seem to be a little confusion in the Book of Revelation, certain subjects, such as the fall of Babylon, being introduced at several points as though there were a lack of order in the narrative of events.

We can almost hear the higher critics triumphantly affirm their favorite theory of a plurality of writers. But there is no need to resort to such a speculative device either in the Old or New Testaments. As we have before pointed out, the Book of Revelation is made up of different sections which overlap one another, God having seen fit to enlarge where necessary, and to go back upon the general outline in order to amplify certain important and special details.

For instance, chapter 11:18 carries us in a general, way right down to the end of God’s judicial dealings with the earth—His wrath come upon the living nations, His judgment of the dead, and the time of reward to His servants during the millennium.

Then in chapter 12, 13., and 14. we get a separate section, going back to give fuller details, especially connected with the Jewish people, and linked on the one hand with His grace to them through the victorious Christ, the Man-child caught up to God’s throne, and on the other with Satan, the inveterate enemy of Christ and His people, whether earthly or heavenly.

But another section now lies before us, commencing with chapter 15

“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is finished (R.V.) the wrath of God” (vs. 1).

We must not suppose that the seven vials follow in historical order after the close of chapter 14 This latter chapter seems to give us an orderly account of the different events: —

(1) The sealing of the godly remnant of the Jews.

(2) The everlasting gospel to the nations.

(3) The fall of Babylon.

(4) The judgment of the Beast-worshippers.

(5) The special blessedness of the Lord’s dead ones during that period, then

(6) The harvest judgment, and finally

(7) The vintage judgment.

It will be observed that in this most interesting outline the fall of Babylon comes third, with several other events quickly following. Whereas in the section now under discussion it comes last of the seven vials. It seems, therefore, natural to conclude that the vials may be emptied on a world increasing in its blasphemous rebellion against God during the time that a special activity of His grace is at work both amongst the Jews and they nations of the earth. It will be the period of the Great Tribulation, but in the midst of judgment God remembers mercy

The Sea of Glass

“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God” (vs. 2).

The figure of the sea of glass is taken from the temple and not the tabernacle. In the molten sea (2 Chron. 4:6) the priests who did the service of God in the temple had to wash. But here the sea is of glass, indicating that the need of purification is now over, and that a fixed and settled state of holiness has been reached. All that grieves has passed away, both in the shape of moral defilement and fiery persecution.

We must not think that those here seen standing on the sea of glass are the saints in glory in any general sense, for the saints of this dispensation are not included. They ate a special class of martyrs already alluded to, who suffer under the Beast during that time of fiery tribulation which will take place during Daniel’s last half week (see Rev. 13:15-17). They are here seen in glory, where sin can never enter, where no need of purifying is ever known. They will not forget the fire through which they had to pass, and in which they glorified God. They are conscious of the victory won at a time of stress and strain, when the blasphemous instrument of the dragon was compelling world homage. They had overcome, as others had done (Rev. 12:11), through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; and now their groans and sighs and tears were ended„ and with the well strung “harps of God” they fill the heavenly courts with joy and praise.

“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy was Thou King of nations” (R.V. note—and cf. Jer. 10:7).

There is a great difference between the song the elders sang in Revelation 5 and this that is sung by the over-corners on the sea of glass. These last had been martyred after the removal of the saints at the coming of the Lord for His own. Though personally faithful to a degree but little known in these days of Luke warmness, yet dispensationally they were on a lower level. There is a distinctly Jewish character in their song—the song of Moses.

But which song of Moses, we might inquire? One was sung at the beginning of their national history (Ex. 15), celebrating redemption, and before their sad history of failure had been traced. The other (Deut. 32) was at the close of the wilderness journey of stiff-necked and perverse rebellion. It was easy to sing when the Lord Himself was before the soul as the Omnipotent Redeemer of His people (Ex. 15), but how difficult when in prophetic vision that same people is seen utterly corrupting themselves, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, and provoking Him to anger with the work of their hands.

“For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days.

“And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song,” etc. (Deut. 31:29).

In the Apocalypse their “latter days” are in full view. And it was in the knowledge of all that should befall them then that Moses could sing his song!

Let Deuteronomy 32. be carefully read in the light of Revelation 15 Greatness is ascribed to God (Deut. 32:3; Rev. 15:3) all Whose ways are perfect, just, and true, even though His hand weighs heavily on His own people because of their sin. Then follows a long description of the froward conduct of His earthly people, and God’s governmental chastisement—mischiefs heaped upon them, arrows spent upon them, burning heat and bitter destruction devouring them, and all this in their “latter days”

Is not this what they will be experiencing to the full during the awful days of the Beast and Antichrist? For though personally these saints are faithful and overcome, yet nationally the Jewish people will be suffering for their sins.

But the day of their enemies’ calamity is at hand, and the things—things of judgment—that shall come upon them make haste (Deut. 32:35). This verse describes what will befall the nations that at the end will be found fighting against God and His people. For the Lord at that time of their extremity will interpose on their behalf, when He sees that their power is gone. Then He will avenge the blood of His saints, and render vengeance to His adversaries (Deut. 32:43). This verse has in view the final blessing of the living nations, along with His people, the Jews.

Jewish Overcomers.

This it is that seems to draw forth the praise of this glorified company of Jewish overcomers.

“Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest” (vs. 4).

This we suggest connects Revelation 15. more with Deuteronomy 32. than with Exodus 15. Not so much His redemption, but His judgments are in view. Yet not judgment unmingled with mercy, for the song looks on to the final blessing of the nations after judgment has done its work.

In this connection it is deeply interesting to note the word which the Holy Spirit has used to describe the character of the Lord— “Thou only art holy.” It is not the usual one ἅγιος which means holy in the sense of separation from all that is evil. Here it is, όσιος, and implies mercy as well as holiness. It is the same word as is used in Acts 13:34 (see margin of that passage). Though judgment is in view, and holiness in the sense of separation from all that is evil becomes God forever, yet the result of judgment here is also in view, for “all nations shall come and worship before Thee.”

Nevertheless, the judgment about to be described is awful, and no ark of the covenant is seen in the temple as in 11:19. This latter verse introduces the section (ch. 12, 13. and 14) which has to do with Israel in particular, and the ark is brought in as the pledge of God’s faithfulness to His people, spite of all their failure. But here (ch. 15) God’s enemies, and that apostate enemies, are in view, and for them nothing but judgment is in store.

Smoke from the Glory of God.

The seven angels come forth from the temple where none could stand for intercession until the plagues were fulfilled, clothed in pure and white linen, and girded with golden girdles. Who these representatives of God’s glorious power may be we cannot say. We are told that the saints shall judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2), and the fine linen is “the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev. 19:8, R.V.), so that it seems to us that the saints will be instruments in the execution of judgment, though they are here seen in angelic form, because not yet manifested with Christ.

The vials are “full of the wrath of God.” These are terrible words! Our blessed Lord drank the cup of God’s wrath on Calvary for all His beloved people. He drained it so that not one drop might come to them. But for His enemies who here despised His grace, who have trodden under foot the Son of God, vengeance will be recompensed—Hebrews 10

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.”

Chapter 38

The Vials of the Wrath of God

Revelation 16

Judgment is God’s strange work, and we cannot but be struck with the slow and measured way in which it is resorted to. It is no hasty and impulsive action, such as is common amongst men. God has borne patiently with the ever increasing sin and corruption of the world, but now the moment has come for the complete and final execution of judgment upon the living; the judgment of the wicked dead will not take place till one thousand years afterward.

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth” (vs. 1).

A great voice sounds from the heavenly temple. The time at last had arrived, however long delayed, when God must vindicate His name and character. No intercession could now avail, for no intercessor could stand in that temple filled with God’s glory. God had lingered in long-suffering mercy over the earth, sending message after message of mercy, but all in vain. Now He must pour forth the vials of His wrath; but it is the wrath OF GOD, not yet the wrath OF THE LAMB. Men today will not listen to anyone who speaks of the wrath of God against sin. They say it must be all love, love, love. Even Christians fear to sound the alarm of coming judgment, and soften down the terrors of eternal perdition.

The First Vial.

But the same gospel that makes known God’s salvation to all who believe, likewise warns of “the wrath of God from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18). In Revelation 16. that wrath is about to be executed in its completeness.

“And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image” (vs. 2).

There is a certain similarity between the vials and the trumpets with regard to the spheres of their operations only in the case of the vials there is no restriction of their extent to the third part. If, as some are inclined to think, the expression “the third part” alludes specially to the Roman Empire in its Western portion, a wider sphere is here in view—the earth. That is, the whole prophetic earth would seem to be involved.

Territorially in the past the Roman Empire extended eastward over Syria and Asia Minor, also southward along the African coast and Egypt as well as Arabia. Any biblical atlas will skew this. But in its revived form such as we find in the Apocalypse, it will be limited to Western Europe. Other prophetic actors in the closing part of the dispensation will occupy Syria and Egypt. But the sphere of influence of the Roman Empire, that is, the Beast, will extend beyond the strict limits of its own dominion. This must be borne in mind when we consider the expression “the earth” under the first vial.

As we have suggested above, “the earth” seems to indicate the whole prophetic sphere of action. This as we know has Palestine as its center. The Beast will come into very close contact with Palestine at the time of the end.

Those who have ranged themselves under the Beast, and have worshipped his image will be stamped with a loathsome external sign of the corruptions within. It will be the government Of God, according to the principle that whatsoever a man sows that he shall also reap. To have close dealing with God in prayer and the purifying power of His Word preserves from moral degradation, but the worship of the Beast and his image will have no such deterring influence, and men will plunge into excesses which will stamp their very bodies with disgusting sores. Russia, which today has banished God and legalized vice, is a loathsome object lesson with its teeming generation of degraded children sodden with disease. This is a sample of the judgment hinted at under the pouring out of the first vial.

“And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea” (vs. 3).

Evidently the “sea” must here be taken symbolically, for how otherwise connect therewith the idea of “the blood of a dead man”? The sea represents the masses of peoples and nations with no settled form of government, but in constant commotion like the troubled sea. The “earth,” as we have suggested, stands for such countries as are found in Western civilization where constitutional government exists. Therefore the second vial affects a wider circle than the first.

The plagues in Egypt were no doubt literal, and so far there is no difficulty in believing that God could repeat these things literally if He choose. But inasmuch as the Apocalypse is a book where figures abound, we may well ask what this second vial implies symbolically? Is it not the abandonment of profession, and complete spiritual death in apostasy? At any rate we know that such an apostasy is clearly foretold in the Scripture (2 Thess. 2), and in Jude 12 we read of those who are. “twice dead,” that is, dead in sin spiritually, and dead by apostasy from God.

The Third Vial.

“And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters: and they became blond” (vs. 4.)

Here the judgment falls upon all the springs and streams of human pleasure and refreshment. It may be that all such sources of joy as should naturally be found in family relationships, and in social and national prosperity become baneful in their influence. Men today are giving up God by choice. Are they making themselves happier thereby? During the time of the pouring forth of the vials God Himself will give them up.

“And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which, art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged thus.

“For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy” (vss. 5,6).

As we have before seen, these apocalyptic times will be times of persecution of God’s witnesses and saints. God was just in rewarding the martyrs (Rev. 15:2-5); He will be righteous also in meting out wrath upon their’ persecutors. As they had shed blood, even so should they drink blood. This gives a terrible idea of what is before these anti-christian idolators; it is not here said that their blood is shed merely, but they drink it., It is God’s retributive dealing with living men.

“And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments” (vs. 7).

This is not yet the judgment of Babylon, the great ecclesiastical persecutor of the saints of God; that will come in due course; these seem rather the political supporters of the Beast. The blood of their victims had been crying from the altar on which, so to speak, their lives had been offered, even as Abel’s had been long before. If not a sparrow falls to the ground without God’s notice, surely not a drop of the blood of His saints can be shed without His taking account thereof; the “angel of the waters “may stand for this tender care of God over His persecuted people. They are represented before God, as we may compare the “little ones” whose angels behold the face of their Father in heaven (Matt. 18); the angel and the altar both approve and justify God in His judgment of the heartless persecutors.

The Fourth Vial.

“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.”

“And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory” (vs. 8, 9)

The sun, typically, stands for the supreme civil authority. The powers that be are ordained of God for the well-being of men, but ofttimes have been used for oppression and tyranny. Russia is a terrifying sample in these days of this very thing. Government will throughout all Europe become intensely and inquisitorially intolerant. Men are complaining of this even today; it is destined to become infinitely more so, as a judgment from God. It will be a power that no passive resistance will be able to cope with. Men will be goaded into blaspheming the name of God, but will not repent to give Him glory.

Men today are displacing God altogether from their lives, they are robbing Him of every honor and claim which is His due; they deny His very existence. But at that day, while recognizing the fact of His existence, they will utterly refuse His claims, and will with impotent rage blaspheme His Name.

The Fifth Vial.

It is not yet the judgment upon the Beast himself; this will not take place until later at the glorious appearing of Christ as the Son of man (Rev. 19); here it is his throne and kingdom which are thrown into confusion.

“And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain.

“And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (vss. 10, 11).

The seat of the Beast—where is that!? There can be but one answer—it will be Rome. The very land where we now see order restored, and Bolshevism repressed under the rule of Mussolini will yet become full of frightful darkness and foreboding fear. Mussolini is not the Beast but he rules today in the kingdom of the Beast, and may be the immediate precursor of the Beast. This we shall discuss later on.

When the Beast revives, his power and the glamour of his haughty pretensions will be short lived, and those who were ready with flattery and adulations to bow at his feet, will find his kingdom one of darkness instead of light, of confusion instead of prosperity, of pain instead of worldly pleasure. Why? Because it will be an atheistical government like Russia today—a land where no mention of God will be allowed except in blasphemy. They will gnaw their tongues in hopeless and helpless rage, and while forced to own that there is a God in heaven, will blaspheme Him as the source of all their trouble. Men today by their careless infidelity are sowing the wind, in that day they will reap the whirlwind of wretchedness and misery, but yet will not repent of their deeds.

Chapters 39

The Great River Euphrates.

Revelation 16:12-21.

We are now approaching a deeply interesting portion of the drama of the last days. Hitherto in these vials, and the same may be said of the trumpets (Rev. 8, 9), the Western enemies of God and His people have been specially in view. But a large part of the prophetic Word is occupied with the future of the Eastern nations (see Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah), and this it is that comes prominently before us in the sixth vial, as it did in the sixth trumpet.

The Sixth Vial.

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of (from —R.V.) the east might be prepared” (verse 12)

The Euphrates holds an important place geographically in the Scriptures. It was one of the four heads into which was divided the river that flowed through Eden (Gen. 2:14). So this affords all the indication that God thought necessary to give of the situation of what men call “the cradle of humanity.” Some there are who would place the garden anywhere but where Scripture clearly has stated it to have been. And yet we may understand the wisdom of God in not fixing for us the exact position of the garden, for prone to idolatry as man is, what pilgrimages of curiosity and superstition might not have been instituted for pecuniary purposes, even under the name of religion!

But the Euphrates had an importance with reference to the seed of Abraham (Gen. 15:18). It was the boundary eastward of the promised land, showing how much vaster was the territory allotted to Israel than many suppose. Euphrates is often mentioned in Scripture, and frequently as “the great river.” Apart from the two places where it is found in the Apocalypse lessons of great spiritual importance may be learned therefrom, but this must be left for the present.

The importance of the Euphrates in our chapter is this, that it is the boundary line between the East and the West. We are told that the Roman Empire never extended beyond the Euphrates, and verse 12 of our chapter shows that the great river is a barrier that stands in the way of the kings from the East. There is every indication today that these kings are beginning to look Westward. This has often been pointed out in the Advent Witness. This very day, as we write, the newspaper placards have in bold letters—

Asia Threatens Europe.

The Eastern nations are now awaking from the slumber of ages; the march towards Europe and Palestine of the kings of the East will soon begin; God in His providential dealings with the earth is preparing their way. Our passage tells us how this preparation will take place. The water of the great river Euphrates will be dried up.

Possibly this may figuratively be accomplished by the building of railways, projects which now fill the air for Persia, India, and China. But there is no necessity to take it figuratively. This very week the daily press has recorded that a river has disappeared— “dried up” is the very expression used—during the earthquakes that have been taking place in Mexico. Rationalists of course may see any amount of difficulty here as elsewhere in the Word of God. But like their Sadducean protagonists they “err, not knowing the Scripture, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:27). To the simple believer neither a literal resurrection from the dead, nor a literal drying up of Euphrates presents any difficulty. Did not God roll back the waters of the Red Sea to cause His people to go dry shod out of Egypt? But the Egyptians essaying to do it were drowned. Whether a similar catastrophe may not overwhelm a multitude of these Eastern hordes we cannot say.

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”

“For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

Without dogmatizing as to exact details in connection with the events of the final crisis immediately preceding Christ’s Millennial reign of peace it would seem that the attack of Gog upon the land of Palestine (Ezek. 38, 39) and this battle of the great day of God Almighty are closely related. Startling events are about to take place. Military leaders in all countries, East and West, are aware of it. In spite of Locarno, Geneva, Lausanne, and all such pacific attempts there never was a time when mightier preparations were made amongst the nations for their mutual extermination. What with poison gases sand bombing raids upon defenseless cities truly we may say “the spirits of devils, working miracles” are abroad in all lands.

Though we may see all these things preparing, yet the removal of the Church must precede their full development. Some may hesitate in accepting this, but we believe that the rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4. may at any moment take place. A Jewish testimony will then immediately commence. Interesting as the study might be we shall not attempt to fit in the different prophetic events recorded in the Scriptures. We take them in their broad outline. Palestine, or rather “the land of Israel,” a very much wider and more extended area, will then become the prominent scene of earthly happenings.

“Behold it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken” (Ezek. 39:8).

We reserve to another occasion a detailed exposition of these remarkable chapters in Ezekiel. The whole world is to be set ablaze by the power of Satan. At Pentecost the Spirit of God was working mightily for man’s salvation through the preached Word, accompanied by signs and miracles of the Holy Ghost. That Spirit is still working, in spite of being grieved and quenched. But under the sixth vial, as we have seen, the devil will be at work stirring up strife and war fever such as has never been know before.

If men today spouting at street corners and in all places of public resort, inflaming men’s passions one against the other, can sway the masses in seething sedition, what will it be when directly inspired by Satan? Not only the kings of the East, but the kings of the whole world twill be involved, thus emphasizing the universal character of the upheaval.

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (vs. 15)

A solemn note of warning is this—a parenthesis in the vials, as has already been noted in the seals and trumpets. Saints there will be on the earth—Jewish saints, and also from amongst the Gentile nations (Rev. 7)— saints whose one and only hope lies in the setting up of the Kingdom. Persecuted and oppressed beyond all power of words to describe, they will be looking for Christ’s coming, not into the air to catch them away to heaven, but to the earth to judge their enemies, and to establish them in earthly blessing. For the saints of this dispensation Christ will come as the Bridegroom to introduce them to their celestial abode; for the world at that day He will come as a thief.

Not for a moment do we wish to minimize the importance of prayerful watchfulness on the part of God’s people in this dispensation. Abundant exhortations do we find in the Word to this end. But exegetically both here and in Luke 21:34-36 the saints referred to are those who will be on the earth after the Church period is ended, and who will be passing through the tribulation crisis that will terminate by the appearing in the clouds of heaven of the Son of man. Conversions will be taking place at that time of terrible trial. Special light will also be given to faithful men at that time who will be able to instruct others with the consolation of God’s holy Word (see Daniel 11:33, etc.).

Armageddon.

“And he (‘they’—R.V.) gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (vs. 16).

Textual critics, a very different race from “higher” critics, are not agreed whether “he” or “they” is the proper reading in this verse. If one may venture an opinion along exegetical lines may we suggest that “he” is the more likely? While it is true that the unclean Satanic spirits inflame the political leaders of that time and gather them together, yet all is really under God’s control and the time will then have come for the completion of God’s purposes concerning Israel and the nations. If Armageddon and Ezekiel 38 are identical, verse 16 of that chapter bears a striking analogy to verse 16 of Revelation 16— “it shall be in the latter days, and I WILL BRING THEE against My land.”

Everything helps to direct the thoughts to Palestine—the very expression “in the HEBREW tongue” suggests this. And where will Armageddon be fought? The word means “the hill of Megiddo,” and Megiddo is a well-known district in Palestine. It has been called “the classic battleground of Scripture” (G. A. Smith). It is a part of the mountain range of Mount Carmel. It has ever held an important part in the wars of Canaan in the past and is destined to do so in the future.

It is a most significant fact that Haifa, the neighboring seaport is putting on a feverish activity, and a great harbor is being built, and railway communications are in process of rapid construction connecting the Mediterranean with Mesopotamia and the great oil fields. The eyes of all nations are now being directed to that very district where “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” will be fought.

The Seventh Vial.

The golden vials “full of the wrath of God” have one after another been poured forth upon the earth, and now we come to the last one―

“And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne saying. It is done” (vs. 17).

This seems a judgment more penetrating than any that had preceded. At one time we took it symbolically, as a judgment that would fall, permeating everything that is essential to man’s social well-being and which none could escape. But there may also be a literal fulfillment. The air is an element that is coming more and more into prominence.

Fallen man has been turning his faculties, God-given faculties, along lines of invention well-calculated to bring humanity to the verge of extinction. The recent air maneuvers over London have left the uncomfortable feeling that had it been real war a vast population would have been destroyed by poison gas emanating from bombs dropped from the air.

A Mighty Earthquake.

“And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great” (vs. 18).

These judgments complete the series prior to the advent of the Son of man in flaming fire, so that a voice out of heaven from the throne of God can cry—IT IS DONE.

All this is accompanied by the most awe-inspiring portents from heaven, and a widespread upheaving of all that seemed secure on earth.

“And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath” (vs. 19).

These days are rapidly approaching, and when they come nothing that has ever been known in the shape of earthly disaster will in the smallest degree compare to them for horror. In the universal collapse of all civil political and religious order, three things seem specially prominent “The great city,” or Rome itself, the center of the revived Roman Empire.

“The cities of the nations,” that is, the centers of political activity outside the Roman Empire, for instance in the Far East.

“Great Babylon,” Satan’s imitation of the Bride of the Lamb, that vast system of religious worldliness, and intolerant and cruel persecution of God’s people. For her the fierceness of God’s wrath is reserved. Furthermore, the influence of these things spreads to the remotest parts, “every island” being affected, and the “mountains,” too, which symbolize all that is great and powerful in the world.

“And there fell upon men a, great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was very great” (vs. 21).

The thoughts of men are being prepared for such things, they are even preparing them themselves. The bombs of destruction now being carried by fighting air planes reach, we are told, to a ton in weight. In the government of God men will be allowed to let loose these weapons of destruction upon one another, weapons which they themselves have called into being.

There will be a downpour of wrath from heaven upon men, which will only harden men’s hearts, and lead them to blaspheme the God Whose very existence they profess to deny.

It is a solemn thing to see men in these days lightly and thoughtlessly throwing the Bible away, preferring Satan’s delusions to the sober truth of God. In the days which are to follow the removal of the Church to heaven God will Himself send them strong delusion that they shall believe a lie (2 Thess. 2).

Chapter 40

Mystery, Babylon the Great.

Revelation 17.

We now approach a portion of the Book of Revelation as to which some difference of interpretation has taken place, and if our exposition is not in full harmony with that of others we humbly appeal for a patient perusal.

Babylon was first mentioned in this book in chapter 14:8, and no doubt in that chapter we are given the orderly sequence of the different events therein described.

Whatever Babylon may symbolize, it is unquestionably something particularly obnoxious to God. It is an evil system which obtains extraordinary power over all nations, intoxicating them with the wine of her idolatrous seductions. Under the seventh vial we see that she herself is made to drink of the cup of God’s wrath.

But Babylon the Great has played so great a part in the history of the world, and is destined to become still more prominent in the future, that the Spirit of God now devotes two whole chapters to a fuller description of her, enlarging upon those traits of her moral character which rendered her so hateful in the eyes of God.

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will skew unto 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” (vss. 1, 2).

A Striking Contrast.

We cannot but be struck with the almost identical language of Revelation 21:9, nor can there be any doubt that the Spirit of God intends to put in striking contrast the “great whore” of Rev. 17:1, and the “bride, the Lamb’s wife” of Revelation 21:9. If the latter be the Church, the former is no less clearly the false Church, the imitation of the true.

The true Church, as we see in the Corinthian assembly which was its local representative, is espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2), but Babylon is here represented in her moral character as a woman of evil life.

The points of contrast are most pronounced. The Church, or at any rate those who compose it, are viewed as seated “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 6): the “great whore” sits by Imlay waters, which in verse 15 of our chapter arc explained to be “peoples, multitudes, and nations, and tongues”; this shows how widespread is her influence.

“Heavenly places” is a term descriptive of the true church. Its members may be poor so far as material possessions are concerned, but her blessings are spiritual and eternal. Her living union is with Christ in the heavenlies. There, too, is the sphere of her conflict while here on earth, wrestling against rulers of darkness, and wicked spirits. Babylon the great knows nothing of such association with a glorified Christ, nor such deadly conflict with Satanic powers of darkness.

The Bride.

Some of our readers may have difficulty in understanding what really is meant by “the Bride,” It has been suggested that it is a Jewish company, and not the Church at all. That there is such an illustration in the Old Testament is clear from the Song of Solomon. And Jehovah is also spoken of as the husband of Israel (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 31:32). But the husband of a married woman is a different figure from a bridegroom of a bride, and the marriage of the Lamb has not yet taken place.

Others again have taken the Bride to represent a dispensational mixture of patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian saints who will be in a special place of blessing as the result of special fidelity on their part. But all this seems to be creating difficulties of interpretation where none really exist. Babylon and the Bride are in evident contrast. No one should have any difficulty in understanding what Babylon typifies. It is a religious ecclesiastical system which claims to be the only true Church. The Spirit of God, by using identical words, as we have seen in Revelation 17:1 and Revelation 21:9, lays stress on the contrasts between the pretension and the positive reality. The Bride is the figure of the true church which Christ has loved with an everlasting love, for which He gave Himself, from which He Himself removes every spot and wrinkle by the water of His Word, and which He will present to Himself in heavenly glory.

Symbolic Babylon.

In passing we may observe that we see no connection between the Babylon of Revelation, confessedly a mystery (vs. 5), and the Chaldean city of the Old Testament. This latter was built in the plain of Shinar, whereas the woman of our chapter sits on the seven mountains (vs. 9). Is not this sufficient to suggest, if not to prove, that Rome is meant, the city of the seven hills? Another has said, “We are not at liberty to eliminate such a feature; it is written to be believed not ignored nor explained away” (Kelly).

We have already seen that Jerusalem is called Sodom (11:8) because of her moral resemblance to that wicked city of the plain. In like manner Babylon, so famed for her many idols (Jer. 1:38), is taken figuratively to represent that system of idolatry which claims to be the true Church. We merely point out the figurative use of the names of cities in this book, Sodom for Jerusalem, and Babylon for Rome. We do not now enter upon a discussion of the vexed question of the rebuilding of Babylon literally, being ourselves quite satisfied, from the frequent statements of Isaiah and Jeremiah, that the literal city of Babylon will never be inhabited again.

“So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (vs. 3).

That Babylon in this chapter is a religious system, few who read these pages will have any doubt. It is a religious system admirably adapted to worldly and earth-loving people. The “kings of the earth,” those in high social position, are attracted to her embrace, and “the inhabitants of the earth,” truth-rejecting Christendom, are intoxicated with her worldly and ostentatious display.

Babylon and the Beast.

More than this, she sits upon the Beast. The Beast, we have before seen, is the revived Roman Empire that under Mussolini’s astounding influence is today in rapid process of formation. Unlike the true Church, which is subject to Christ, Babylon rules the world. In the day which is drawing near after the removal of the Church, the Beast or political power of Western Europe will be characterized by utter infidelity. This unbelief in God and His Word is making enormous strides in our times. Side by side with this political Rome, ecclesiastical Rome is on the increase, in spite of all that zealous Protestants attempt or declare. In the time that is here contemplated, the extraordinary spectacle is presented of an atheistical government under the complete control of an ecclesiastical system.

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication” (vs. 41.)

What an amazing and accurate description is this of Papal Rome prophetically given centuries before it existed. How admirably it depicts that vast system of religious corruption, superstition and idolatry which has continued right down the centuries. All that wealth, luxury, and splendor can do to attract the natural man is seen in her borders; riches are ceaselessly flowing into her coffers, and strange, indeed, is it to think that the wealthiest man in all the world, who lives amidst pomp and magnificence, and before whom crowned heads do obeisance, claims to be the successor of poor Peter, who declared, “Silver and gold have I none!”

A Mystery of Iniquity.

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (vs. 5).

Well, indeed, is she spoken of as a mystery, but it is a mystery of iniquity, and not the mystery of the true Church’s union with Christ. A claim to holiness she makes, and that in defiance of her history of moral corruption on the part of her Prelates and Clergy. In God’s sight it is abomination, a system of superstitious idolatry, not only of the consecrated wafer, but of bones, and nail parings, and locks of hair and old clothes which she calls “holy relics.”

“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her I wondered with great wonder” (vs. 6).

By man this dark page of Rome’s history is ofttimes forgotten. By some it is extenuated as though it belonged to bygone barbaric times, but that now such intolerance is at rm end. Others again try to minimize the cruelties perpetrated under the Inquisition, asserting that Protestants have done the like! But this is flying in the face of history. Rome’s own boast is that she is always the same (“semper eadem”), but only give her power and she would seek to exterminate those she calls heretics, but whom God calls “saints and martyrs of Jesus.”

Here at the close of her history, and just before the hour of her judgment, the Spirit of God charges home upon her the guilt of her blood-stained annals. This is a mark that demands the careful consideration of those who are today clamoring for reunion with Rome. Babylon the Great is called the “Mother of harlots.” She has her daughters. The influence of the Church of Rome is extending today beyond her own borders. The line of demarcation between Protestantism and Romanism is becoming blurred. In writing as we do, let us not be misunderstood. We are writing about ecclesiastical systems and not individual men and women. Truly converted people are to be found in the Church of Rome; large numbers of unconverted people are to be found as members of so-called Protestant bodies.

The Crises of the Day.

There are three great movements on foot today—

1. True Christians in all the various branches of the professing church are finding ways and means of drawing together for worship, service, fellowship and edification apart from the denominational barriers that have for long kept them apart. Such gatherings as Keswick and the A.T.P.M. are largely conducive to this. God’s people are gathering together on earth in anticipation of being “caught up together in the clouds.”

As Dr. Meyer in later years so forcibly and beautifully expressed it, “the hurdles are being broken down at the foot of the mountain and the Lord’s flock is feeding on the pastures higher up” — there shall be one FLOCK (not, “fold”), one “Shepherd” ( John 10:16).

2. Protestantism is splitting in two. The churches are apostatizing from the faith. Famous teachers in all branches are leaders in the “down-grade” movement, and a race of admiring pupils are being drafted into the pulpits. We need not labor this painful feature of these “last days.” It is patent to all.

3. A refuge from the blight of modernism is being sought by large numbers who dare not face eternity without something to believe in. How terrible to approach the end of life’s voyage and to hear the breakers roar upon the shore of eternity, in a frail barque of rotten timbers—without rudder, without chart, without compass. Can no ground of certainty be found? If the Bible be unreliable—if Christ be no better than any other man, worse, for He claimed to be God, and yet... we will not defile our pages with what men dare to say of Him—if there be no propitiatory and substitutionary atonement, no actual resurrection of Him Who died in my stead, the Just for the unjust—then who can show me any good? who can give me anything on which to rest my soul for eternity?

Rome calmly replies—WE CAN. Is it any wonder that she is on the increase?

That there are true believers in the Church of Rome we do not for one moment question, even as there are true believers in every so-called Protestant church, in spite of abounding apostasy.

What is then going to happen? In the twinkling of an eye all true Christians will be removed from earth to heaven, a lifeless profession will be spued out of Christ’s mouth, and the whole ecclesiastical fabric left upon earth after the removal of the Church will merge into Babylon the Great.

Babylon in Old and New Testaments.

It may be well to add that the Babylon of the Apocypse must not be confounded with the Babylon of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The former, as we have seen, is a religious system now represented by the Church of Rome. The Babylon of Isaiah is a political system which began with Nebuchadnezzar, and which runs through the whole period called “the times of the Gentiles,” represented successively under the four great Gentile powers—Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece and Rome.

The Beast of the Apocalypse will be the final form of that great power which began with Nebuchadnezzar. Remembering this, we can understand many prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah which allude to Babylon, and which clearly remain yet to be fulfilled. These do not oblige us to conclude that the literal city of Babylon must be rebuilt.

Isaiah 14 is a case in point. Verse 1 and 2 clearly prove that the prophecy awaits its fulfillment. Not even does the present return of the Jew; to Palestine meet the requirements of this passage, still less their return in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Then, as Nehemiah mournfully confesses-

“Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruits thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it” (Neh. 9:36).

When Isaiah 14. is fulfilled Jehovah Himself will have restored His people in rich mercy and set them in their own land. The people who will be instrumental in their restoration, not only to Palestine but to the land which Jehovah calls His own land, will themselves be possessed by restored Israel as servants and handmaids. Instead of being despised and hated as they have been for long, they shall rule over their oppressors. All this clearly is yet future, but it is then that Babylon, such as we have it in Isaiah, is finally dealt with. This is why we point out the distinction between the Babylon of the Apocalypse and that of Isaiah.

Another has written: ―

“The overthrow of Babylon (Isa. 14) involves the emancipation of Israel. It has thus much greater importance than the history of any ordinary power; and the past Babylon is simply a type of the fall of the greater power, its final heir, which is to the last the enslaver of the Jews, the would-be protector but master of the holy city” (Kelly, on Isaiah).

It is “the prince that shall come,” in other words, the prince of the revived Roman Empire, who will confirm a covenant with the Jews for “one week” (i.e., seven years) and break it off “in the midst of the week” (Dan. 9:27).

Chapter 41

The Mystery of the Woman

Revelation 17:7-18.

The description of the woman given in our chapter so accurately portrays the ecclesiastical system that prevailed at the time of the Reformation, that it seems more like a history than a prophecy.

“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns” (vs. 7).

In answer to the prophet’s amazement, the angelic messenger explains the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her.

It is the beast with seven heads and ten horns that has already been before us—undoubtedly the Roman Empire. But the mention of the ten horns proves that it is that phase of the Roman Empire which will be seen at the close.

“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: 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 shall be present” (R.V.).

This is a most remarkable verse, dividing as it does the history of the Beast into three stages. There was a time during which Rome existed as an imperial power—it “was”— but for centuries it ceased so to be—it “is not”— and until quite recently it gave no appearance of revival. Prophetic students had clearly foreseen that it would arise in fulfillment of what had been revealed in the Word of Truth. Ever since in years gone by it was the present writer’s good fortune to come in contact with the writings and oral ministry of some of the early “Brethren” it has been his happy privilege to proclaim the truth of the Gospel linked as it ever should be with a clear testimony as to the coming of the Lord.

Such works as Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects (Trotter), and Notes on Daniel (Kelly), were a revelation to him, and the three stages of the Beast in Revelation 17:8 were then clearly seen.

The Beast from the Pit.

The Roman Empire is destined to rise again. What John was inspired of God to reveal, we are now seeing coming to pass under the leadership of Mussolini.

But the Scriptures that foretell the final rise of the Roman Empire likewise reveal what will be its moral characteristics. It will ascend out of the bottomless pit (11:7; 17:8). It will be energized by Satan, for the dragon, we are told, will give it “his power, and seat, and great authority” (13:2). Woe to the earth dwellers then! They will fall completely under the power of the Devil, whose existence they now deny. And Satan is today obtaining startling power over men. Spiritism which is spreading with such extraordinary rapidity is preparing the way for the apostasy from God which will mark the time of Antichrist’s seductions after the removal of the Holy Spirit—” the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9).

Men today are rejecting, or perhaps we might more accurately say, they are despising the offered mercy of God because they do not love the truth (2 Thess. 2:10). They “might be saved,” but they will not. None will be lost because they could not be saved, only because they would not.

“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth” (verse 9).

In verse 3 we are told the woman sits upon a scarlet colored beast “having seven heads”; in verse 9 these seven heads are explained to be seven mountains. This clearly shows the geographical position of the Beast. The Roman Empire will have its center and seat at Rome, the city of the seven hills. So what this chapter clearly teaches is the revival of the Roman Empire—a political system—and the control of that Empire at the close by an ecclesiastical system whose moral features are too clearly delineated to leave any reasonable doubt what is in the mind of the Spirit.

But there is an additional explanation of the seven heads of the Beast.

“And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space” (vs. 10).

This evidently alludes to the different and successive forms of government with which every reader of Roman history is familiar. Five of these had fallen, such as Triumvirs, Decemvirs, Consuls, etc.; the sixth, or imperial existed when John wrote; a seventh was to arise—” not yet come”— and we are distinctly told that when come, this seventh would continue but a short space.

The Seventh Head.

Along with others we used often to suggest that Napoleon Bonaparte might have been this seventh. The brief description here given seemed to have had its fulfillment in his extraordinary rise to power, and his equally sudden fall. But the present remarkable developments in Italy make it much more likely that Mussolini may be this seventh, for after all, Napoleon’s seat of government so long as it lasted was Paris, whereas Mussolini’s is Rome. Time will show. But it is noteworthy that in a recent article in the Evening Standard from the pen of Dean Inge, this prolific writer in giving his opinion upon the affairs of Italy, and commenting upon the meteoric appearance of Mussolini upon ‘the stage of history, gives it as his opinion that Mussolini’s influence is destined to be short-lived. Without reflecting upon the Dean in any wise, we do not suppose he had in mind this passage in Revelation 17. But it is remarkable for all that.

Whether this be so or not, it is important to observe that the seventh head is not exactly the Beast himself.

“The beast that was, and is not, even he is an eighth (R.V.), and is of the seven, and go eth into perdition” (vs. 11).

So that what we are now witnessing in Italy may be, and most likely is, the immediate preparation for the actual Beast of prophecy.

“And the tea horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (vs. 12).

In this verse we have ample evidence not only that the Roman Empire will be revived, but that its last phase will be different altogether from what has been seen in the past. Never yet has such a thing been known as an empire with its seat at Rome, and consisting of ten independent kings associated with that central power. The expression “the beast” may sometimes be understood as the empire, and at other times the head of the empire.

All our readers are well aware of the remarkable awakening of Italy that is now taking place. From the human point of view the Great European war has been the chief cause of this, though the Balkan war with Turkey in 1912 gave the first impetus to the events which when fully developed will divide up Europe into its ten kingdoms. It was during that time that the king of Italy claimed to be called the Emperor of Rome. Little notice was taken of that by politicians, but prophetic students saw and pointed out the remarkable coincidence. Now all eyes can see it.

The Ten Kings.

“These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (verse 13)

When God gave the Revelation to Jesus Christ, and He in turn signified it by His angel to His servant John (Rev. 1:1), the ten kings spoken of in our chapter had no existence as such. The Beast was there in its sixth head, but the ten kings had not received their power as kings. This ten-fold division is the final phase of the Roman Empire. The changes we are now seeing so rapidly developing may, and in all probability will, bring into existence the ten kingdoms—just ten, neither more nor less—but the wonderful features of the last hour of European politics are these, that the Roman Empire will be unmistakably revived: that territorially it will cover the extent of the ten kingdoms into which Europe, south of the Danube and west of the Rhine, will be divided: that these ten ‘kings will have their own separate spheres of authority and power but that for a short period, just at the close, they will give their power to the Beast, who will thus be an Emperor over the whole. Geneva today is a sort of weak and inefficient sample of this.

There are all sorts of rumors now afloat of changes in the governing heads in Italy. Hints are afloat as to Mussolini’s successor. Even allusions to abdication of the king have made their way into the daily press.

The whole habitable world is just now in a state of feverish unrest. The sickening memories of the Great War are fading away. A new generation has sprung up to whom it means no more than a mere name like “Waterloo.” War, in spite of Peace Pacts, is uppermost in everybody’s mind. Many have been cooing like doves in their cots, “Peace, peace,” and are now rudely being awakened to find that “there is no peace.” Russia with its teeming millions, helpless under the cruel leadership of the Soviet power—the Russian military machine, now being organized by Germany, as the latest carefully guarded secret has revealed—war preparations in the Far East under Russian influence—civil commotions in European countries—all these things make thoughtful men tremble as they contemplate the possibilities that darken the political horizon.

The Kings of the Earth.

In this chapter (Rev. 17) and in the next we must confine our attention to the western nations. The “kings of the earth” (17:2, 18; 18:9) do not simply mean kings reigning on the earth. The “earth” must be understood in its prophetic sense in contrast to the “sea”; in other words, those nations which are in an ordered and civilized condition, rather than restless and changing.

Other kings besides these will enter into the conflicts of the last days, the “kings of the east” (16:12), and the “kings of the whole habitable world” (16:14). The drying up of the Euphrates need not be taken literally, but as in a symbolic way breaking down the eastern boundary of the old Roman Empire to enable the free and unhindered intercourse between the East and the West. The “kings of the east,” no doubt, refer to such nations as China, Japan, India, etc. But no part of the earth—north, south, east, or west—will be left out in that awful Armageddon, “the battle of the great day of God Almighty.”

But here in Revelation 17. as we have said, it is the western nations, the ten kings, that are in question.

Shortly before the Great War we wrote what may be repeated with even greater emphasis: — “A threatening confederacy of northern and eastern nations can even now be seen in embryo, but will soon loom largely on the political horizon. The Balkan surprise has rudely shaken the settled beliefs of politicians, and as we write, the daily press begins to speak of the unexpected coquetting between Russia and Germany. This need not surprise the prophetic student. But all that it involves with the countless multitudes of China, Japan, India, etc., the great north-eastern confederacy of nations, soon to be formed into one united army, the Assyrian of Isaiah, the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel, the King of the North of Daniel—all this we fully believe, may, as suddenly as the Balkan conflagration, burst forth before the eyes of an astonished world. This may as suddenly call into being the confederacy of the West, or the ten kings united under the Beast, as a preservation of their very existence.”

War in the Air.

Once formed, and under the direct inspiration of Satan, the Beast and the ten kings will make war with the Lamb. This anticipates Revelation 19:11.

“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (vs. 14).

He who was rejected on earth, the suffering Lamb, will then come with power and great glory. Despised and rejected on earth He had been. He had been sentenced and crucified by the very empire, which now under Satan’s leadership will hurl itself against Him when He comes the second time. But all supremacy and royal authority will then be His. The dying malefactor’s vision of faith will then be fulfilled, — “Lord remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom”—and that first trophy of redemption will find himself coming with the King of kings, holding no mean place amongst the called, chosen, and faithful followers of the Lamb.

“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues” (vs. 15).

The woman’s geographical position was the seven mountains of the city of Rome, but her spiritual and ecclesiastical influence will spread throughout the whole of that part of Europe dominated by the Beast. This is what Scripture announces will be the case after the removal of the Church at the coming of the Lord. Ecclesiastical Rome will be the all-controlling power in the revived Roman Empire.

Protestantism will never break the power of Rome. Protestantism will quickly be sucked into the vortex of the apostasy, as is now rapidly taking place under the influence of an ever-increasing army of its so-called Ministers, Those who cannot be satisfied with an infidel form of religion, professedly Christian yet deprived of every Christian doctrine, will go to swell the ranks of Babylon the Great, with the exception of those who through grace are found in Christ and will be “caught up” before the final catastrophe. But Babylon’s hour of doom will surely come, not at the hand of Protestantism, but from the infidel and blasphemous power of the Beast and its ten horns.

The Judgment of the Great Whore.

“And the ten horns which thou sawest AND (R.V.) the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (vs. 16).

For a time the political power will tolerate the impudent assumptions and persecuting tactics of Babylon. Her wealth, her luxury and worldly magnificence will dazzle the kings of the earth, and intoxicate the high circles of Society. But at length her pretensions and her tyranny will become intolerable, and in hatred of the whole hierarchy of religion, they will strip her of her magnificence, and swallow up her wealth. This is what we believe the Spirit of God would have us understand by eating her flesh. She is not yet seen as completely destroyed but deprived of her Power.

“For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled” (vs. 17).

In the words of another:— “How good to know amid all that day of terror that God is supreme, above all the devices of His enemies! ‘He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of it He restraineth!’ And this is the time which will most fully demonstrate this. Then the way is prepared for blessing, wide in proportion to the judgment which has introduced it”— Grant.

Never before had these kings been in complete accord. Dual and triple alliances there had been to keep the balance of power between one another, all the more needful when Europe had become an armed camp. But then they will all have one mind, and will all agree in their antagonism to the Lamb, and to carry out His purposes with regard to the idolatrous persecutor of His people.

In the order of the events verse 16 will precede verse 14 as may be easily seen from chapter 19

Chapter 42

Come Out of her my People.

Revelation 18.

Perhaps no chapter in the Book of Revelation has presented greater difficulties of interpretation, while at the same time possessing clearer marks of identification than that which now lies before us.

It should be evident to all that the Babylon the Great here spoken of is the same as that of Revelation 17. and earlier chapters in the Book.

Just as the Beast in Revelation 17. represents the Roman Empire as a political system in its final form, so Babylon the Great of the same chapter represents the ecclesiastical system of Christendom in its final form. As we have seen, Babylon the Great is the Mother of Harlots—she has her daughters. The Reunion of Churches of which we hear so much today will presently reach maturity, for after the removal of the truly born-again members of all denominations at the coming of the Lord a great ecclesiastical system will rear its head aloft, having its chief center in the city of the seven mountains, but spreading its imperial influence throughout all Europe. This may seem impossible to some, but it is the clear forecast of these prophetic chapters.

Babylon in the Old Testament is the source and center of idolatry, and the land of captivity of the people of God. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit takes up the same term and applies it to describe the final form of apostate ecclesiasticism.

A Euphratean Babylon.

There are many earnest prophetic students who believe that the city of Babylon is yet to be rebuilt on the banks of the Euphrates. Whether this be so or not it is impossible to identify the Babylon of Revelation with a Chaldean city on the Euphrates hurriedly built between the Rapture and the Appearing of the Lord on the Mount of Olives. One reason given for a rebuilt Babylon in the land of Shinar is that the Babylon of Revelation 18, will be a great commercial center, possibly maritime, for we read of ships and sailors trading by sea (vs. 17). But these terms are not inconsistent’ with the city of Rome. At the present time under Mussolini’s rapid development of Rome, broad avenues with magnificent buildings are being constructed leading from the existing city down to the sea.

It is clear that the Babylon of Revelation 18. draws a picture of a great commercial system trading in every form of luxurious and costly merchandise (vss. 11-14), but even this has its religious aspect, for it enslaves the “bodies (R.V.) and souls of men” (vs. 13).

On the one hand we have such passages as Jer. 1:13, 39; 51:26, 29, 37, which support the view that the city of Babylon will never be rebuilt.

On the other hand, Isa. 13. and 14. which speak of a judgment on Babylon which is evidently in the future when Israel is restored to their own land in blessing, at rest from sorrow, fear and bondage (Isa. 14:1-3).

Putting all these passages together it would appear that the present desolate and uninhabited condition of the literal Babylon will continue to the end (so far Jeremiah), but that the expression Babylon in Isaiah denotes that political system which began with Nebuchadnezzar and which runs through the whole period called “the Times of the Gentiles” under the four great Gentile powers—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. The Beast of the Apocalypse will be the final form of that power which began with Nebuchadnezzar.

The Apocalyptic Babylon.

Returning now to our chapter, it must be clearly understood that Babylon is the symbolic name of an ecclesiastical system which bears unmistakable resemblance to the Papacy, and which will be found at the close seated on the Beast.

No tyranny in the past has been greater than that of a clerical priest craft, backed up and supported by an all-powerful ecclesiasticism. Superstitious fear has brought kings and peoples cringing at the footstool of a power that claims to have the keys of heaven, to shut or open at its pleasure.

But the time will come as we have seen when atheism will rise in revolt. The Beast and the ten kings will hate the whore, and make her desolate, and naked, and burn her with fire, who once burned the martyrs of Jesus (Rev. 17). The destroyers of Babylon are not evangelical protestants but atheistical world rulers.

Now from Revelation 18:8 we learn that this judgment on Babylon, though executed by men, is really the judgment of God. It was not enough to show the antagonism of the human instruments of vengeance, but the terrific sentence of divine displeasure.

It has been pointed out before in these pages that the oft-repeated expression “another angel” (8:3; 10:1) seems to refer to our Lord Jesus Christ. The time had not yet quite come for His personal manifestation—that occurs in Revelation 19:11—but the time of reckoning with that great religious system drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus is now in full view, and the whole earth is seen lightened with His glory, and is made to ring with His mighty voice, announcing the fact of Babylon’s fall (vs. 2) and the moral reasons thereof (vs. 3).

Come out of her my People.

Another voice from heaven now is heard to sound throughout the religious circles of Europe.

“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

“For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (vss. 4,5).

The rapture will already have taken place; the church will already have been removed; another band of witnesses will at that time be upon the earth—Jewish witnesses, as we have before seen. It is to these, we believe, this call to come out of Babylon is addressed. If any amongst these Jewish witnesses, or their Gentile converts have become entangled in her meshes, the call comes loud and clear—COME OUT.

While this seems the precise and prophetic interpretation of this verse, there is unquestionably a moral interpretation applicable at all times throughout this present dispensation. Wherever the marks of Babylon are discernible, it is the bounden duty of every believer to sever his connection therewith.

Another has written―

“Though we may look for a future development of Babylon, as opposing God’s final testimony of the Kingdom to all nations before the end comes, yet I think that, even at the present moment, there need be no difficulty in judging where the features of Babylon are found most fully. It is a religious system that governs a number of kings, not an establishment that is at the mercy of the secular government. This is inconsistent with Scripture, but it is not the wickedness spoken of here.”

“Babylon is an incomparably darker, deeper, and more widespread system of religious corruption—arrogating to itself the name of the church of God exclusively, setting itself above kings, intriguing with them, but at the same time maintaining its supremacy above them all; stupefying the masses with the poison of her exciting falsehoods: arrayed in all the meretricious splendor of the world: the fountain-head of the worst idolatry under the sun: and finally manifesting a spirit of bloodthirsty persecution against the true saints and witnesses of Jesus, under the usurped pretense Of His will and authority.”

“There is one that does claim this place—one that takes it as given by God—one whose seat and center are found in the very heart of what was once the Roman Empire—a religious system that affects universal dominion, and that, in order to accomplish it, either wins by every enticing art, or extinguishes all opposition in the blood of heretics so-called, her victims. ‘By thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth’ (vss. 23, 24). For any unprejudiced person who reads this description of Babylon calmly, and asks himself, What is that professing Christian body so abounding in idols, so authoritative over the kings of the earth, so indulgent to the wicked, and so cruel to the righteous? it is impossible not to see the answer” (Kelly).

The Smoke of her Burning.

It would be impossible to read Revelation 17:4 along with Revelation 18:16 without realizing that these two chapters speak of the same evil system. Many are of opinion that after the removal of the saints at the rapture a time of peace and prosperity will come to the world. In all likelihood this will be so, for men will be saying, “Peace and safety.” But this will quickly be followed by times of terrible distress. There will be great catastrophes, and that here described will be one of the greatest. “In one day” (vs. 8), even “in one hour” (vs. 17) the city of Rome will be a scene of desolation and disaster.

In all probability the burning here spoken of will be literal. Every traveler in Italy knows full well how volcanic is the country around Naples and Rome. In many parts the ground under one’s feet is too hot to stand on. Smoke and steam burst forth from subterranean caverns. Vesuvius and Etna are now showing unwonted activity—a solemn indication of what may soon give actuality to the vivid description of our chapter. Politics (the ten horns) and religion (Babylon the Great) Will be in deadly conflict when God Himself will suddenly intervene.

The “kings of the earth” (that is, those rulers beyond the limits of the “ten kings”), and the merchants of the earth will bewail and lament at Babylon’s fall. The shipmasters and sailors secure on their ships, as they may think, standing out to sea will cry aloud as they behold the smoke of her burning, “Alas! alas! that great city.”

The sound of music and joy will cease; business and industry will be at a standstill in this the seat of Europe’s political and religious splendor.

Chapter 43

The Marriage of the Lamb.

Revelation 19:1-10.

We have seen in chapters 17. and 18. the judgment of Babylon as a system. The judgment of individuals is a different thing altogether.

Babylon is a vast system in antagonism against God. It is the world as a system, and “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away” (1 John 2:15-17).

Babylon is typical of the world as a moral system It is a system opposed to Christ and all His. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18, 19).

In the chapters we have been considering Babylon has a threefold character.

1. Religious and ecclesiastical—the Great Whore, entering into unholy and illicit connection with the world, committing spiritual fornication with the kings of the earth. She sits a Queen, Mistress over the world, false to her true character as “called out” of the world. No wonder she has stamped upon her forehead MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMITIONS OF THE EARTH. In contrast to the true Bride of Christ it is the World-Church.

2. A political system—the Woman sitting upon the scarlet colored beast, arrayed in purple and scarlet, decked with precious stones of every kind, her dignitaries displaying all the pomp, magnificence, and grandeur of the earth. What a contrast to the hunted, persecuted and oft-times martyred people of God linked by faith with a rejected Christ, quickened with Him, raised up together with Him, and seated in heavenly places in Him!

3. A commercial system of wide-spread influence whereby the hard earned savings of the multitude are transferred to the colossal fortunes of the few. Huge combines squeezing out small traders, underselling till financial ruin sweeps them away, broken in mind, body and estate, so that their supplanters may be “placed alone in the midst of the earth” (Isa. 5:8). “Thy merchants were the great men of the earth” (Rev. 18:23).

Babylon in all its threefold earthly glory is doomed to fall under the righteous judgment of God. Her plagues will come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. The whole fabric of finance will burst like a mighty bubble, filling the world with dismay, “weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate (Rev. 18:19).

But if earth weeps and mourns, heaven will rejoice at the collapse of that vast system of religious idolatry and bloody persecution, of political intrigue, and commercial deception.

“Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her” (18:20).

This to some may seem a hard saying, but God is not unrighteous to forget the blood shed by man upon the earth, and Babylon, insensible to her own guilt, utterly indifferent to the holiness and righteousness of the God with Whom all have to do, to say nothing of the torture and misery she has heaped upon her helpless victims—Babylon, unrepentant, inherits the accumulated guilt of all the blood that has been shed upon the earth.

“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (18:24).

Slain, not only in the name of religion, but also, international wars, of aggression and trade.

Much People in Heaven.

On earth there has been weeping and wailing. The last days of the great crisis week of seven years are seen to be rapidly running out. The different bands of martyrs that have been noticed in our previous study of this wonderful book have gone to join the heavenly host.

“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God” (19:1).

The time seems now to have arrived for the long delayed answer to the prayer— “Thy Kingdom come... for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory.” The heavenly host are here heard using almost the identical words— “glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God” (19:1), only not now as a far distant prospect, but as an immediate actuality.

And who are these “much people in heaven?” Are they not the whole company of the redeemed in glory? Do they not include (1) all the saints caught up at the rapture, viz., O.T. saints and the completed Church, (2) martyrs under the fifth seal (Rev. 6), (3) martyrs under the beast (Rev. 13:15)? They are here seen as an undivided company, voicing as one the triumphant Hallelujah’s of heaven over the long-delayed but righteous judgment of the great idolatrous persecutor of God’s servants (19:2), The Kingdom of God could not be established upon earth until the two opposing forces were put down—Babylon and the Beast. The first of these is now disposed of “and again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose tip forever and ever” (19:3). The judgment of the Beast and the kings of the earth is soon to follow.

A Voice out of the Throne.

It is solemn to think that nowhere in Scripture is found such a chorus of thanksgiving as here over the downfall of Babylon. Not once only nor twice, but four times does Alleluia! sound through heaven’s eternal arches. Angelic hosts (19:6) take up the strain, and the voice of Him whose voice was as the sound of many waters (1:15. 19:6)— the mind of heaven is one as amidst the mighty thunderings of omnipotent power they proclaim—The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

The Marriage of the Lamb.

Long centuries before the voice of the Spirit had proclaimed the espousals of the Church as of a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). The Church at Corinth was a local representative of the whole Church everywhere, for this we believe is the teaching of 1 Corinthians 12:27. “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” Of course the body of Christ in its entirety included all saints everywhere, but each local assembly represented the whole. What is true of the Body aspect, is likewise true of the Bride aspect of the Church. Now here, in Revelation 19. the marriage is about to be consummated.

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready” (19:7).

The harlot church united to the kings of the earth, and the chaste virgin united to the Lord of heaven could not exist side by side. The Great Whore must go to her doom before the chaste Bride appears side by side with the once rejected but now glorified Lamb in heaven.

Up to this point the saints in heaven are seen, as we have said, as one undivided group. They can each and all take up the song of Revelation 1:5, 6— “loved—cleansed—and crowned,” but now Babylon having been judged, the Bride is seen separated off from the rest to occupy a place of special nearness to the Lamb. The twenty-Tour elders embrace all the redeemed “caught up” when the Lord comes into the air. In this passage (19:4) they are mentioned for the last time for the different families in heaven are now being separately defined (“EVERY family, etc.,” Ephesians 3:15—R.V.).

If the Bride holds a special place, there will be no jealousy in heaven, where all is sovereign grace. Here it is said she hath “made herself ready.” The blood of the Lamb made her ready-as to her title, as indeed will be the case with each individual saint in that day. Here it is a matter of manifestation with Christ in glory. The light makes everything manifest, not to the eyes of others, but to His with Whom each one has to do. The result of that manifestation at the Bema of Christ will be that the Bride as a whole will be seen “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.” No finger will be able to point out a single stain, all will have been manifested before God and the result will be seen by all—fine linen “granted” even though unmerited. How different the “scarlet and purple” of the meretricious harlot and the clean white linen of practical righteousness of the Bride “the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (19:8, R.V.).

The Blessed Guests.

From this point the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures cease from view, and the figure changes to the Bride and the guests called to the marriage supper. That is, the Church displayed as the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, and the remainder of the saints included under the twenty-four elders, namely, the O.T. saints seen as a separate company, blessed indeed, though not in the same position, called to the marriage supper as guest but not in the same relationship to the Lamb―

The Lamb is all the glory

In Immanuel’s land.

Some may think these distinctions unnecessary, but let us remember that, “these are the true sayings of God” (19:9).

The effect upon John of these stupendous revelations was to produce a feeling of reverential adoration, and he falls at the feet of the angelic messenger. But he is immediately prevented from creature worship, and angels, however exalted, are but creatures. God alone is to be adored―

“I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren, that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (19:10)

There are some Christians who profess to take no interest, and to find no profit from the study of prophecy. This verse is God’s condemnation of such an attitude. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. This sentence is reciprocal. What the Spirit has revealed in the prophetic Word is the testimony about the Lord Jesus that He would have sounded abroad, and so much the more as the day of its fulfillment draws nigh.

Chapter 46

The Testimony of Jesus.

Rev. 19:11-21.

It is of immense importance that everyone who desires to be a successful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in these last days should pay very earnest attention to the prophetic portion of the Word of God.

We have often heard Christians, even, speak disparagingly of this kind of testimony; but they are profoundly mistaken in this. We have sometimes heard evangelists saying, “Oh, I don’t want to bother about such subjects as the Jewish remnant, what has that to do with me? I want to win souls, I want to attract the young, I don’t want to puzzle them upon such speculative matters.”

Such an attitude is often due to the indolence of the preachers’ themselves. They have not the taste for patient, persevering study of the Word of God. But we are persuaded that as the time of the end draws nigh effectual witness for Christ will be largely linked with the prophetic testimony that the Spirit yields in such a book as we are now studying—” the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” or “the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.”

Heaven Opened.

The supreme moment is now at hand. Nearly 2,000 years ago the Christ of God was crucified by wicked hands, but God raised Him from the dead and received Him into heaven. There, ever since, He has been seated at the right hand of God. “Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thy foes Thy foot-stool” was God’s answer to the world’s appalling act of sin. During all this while a message of pardon and salvation has been proclaimed, but soon, according to the Saviour’s own warning, the world is to “see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30). That solemn moment is here seen to have arrived.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold! a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11).

Today God saves in righteousness all who put their trust in His dear Son. Today God justifies freely by His grace the vilest and the guiltiest through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24). But presently His session at the right hand of God will cease and He will come forth as a mighty conqueror riding the symbolic white horse of victory. All power will be in His hand and He Who was the faithful witness (Rev. 1:5) in the days of His rejection will be publicly acknowledged by high heaven as the Faithful and the True “in righteousness He doth judge and make war”

A Righteous War.

The wars of this world have been mostly wars of human passion and avarice. Not so will it be when that day comes—when “the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,” when “the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain” (Isa. 26:21).

“His eyes are as a flame of fire,” penetrating, scrutinizing. The world will then know that all things are manifest in His sight. Crowns of universal dominion are on His brow; and “A NAME WRITTEN that no man knew, but He Himself.” What mere creature could fathom the infinite depths of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. “NO MAN KNOWETH THE SON BUT THE. FATHER” (Matt. 11:27). To Him every knee shall bow either in willing worship or reluctant compulsion.

“And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called THE WORD OF GOD” (vs. 13).

The vesture dipped in blood has nothing to do with the gospel message. It is not salvation offered through the blood of Christ. This is the blood of vengeance in the execution of judgment. It is vividly described in Isaiah 63:1 to 6, and specially refers to the deliverance of God’s earthly people from the combined armies of the earth— “the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come.”

God will have a people on the earth at that time. This has been frequently before us in these studies

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion” (Isa. 59:19, 20).

But He will not come alone for—

“The armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white, and clean” (vs. 14).

The Armies in Heaven.

The armies which were in heaven—before the heavens were opened, before the Rider came forth upon the white horse to execute this warrior judgment, these armies had been in the heaven from whence they are here seen coming forth to “swell the triumph of His train.”

The coming of the Lord for His saints had already taken place. They had been filling heaven with their worship and praise, and the marriage-of the Lamb had already been celebrated. They are here seen coming WITH Him Who had previously come FOR them.

These armies are not angels though angel hosts, myriads of them, will of course be there as well (2 Thess. 1:7). These are the redeemed whose garments have been washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 22:14)— “blessed are they that wash their robes” (R.V.)— “made white in the blood of the Lamb,” as is said of another company (Rev. 7:9-17). While it is true that the blood of the Lamb can alone give us fitness of title for heaven, yet the “fine linen, white and clean” of our chapter seems to be explained as the “righteous acts” of the saints. Though all the glorified saints will be in the army of heaven on the ground of the blood of the Lamb, their position and rank in that army will be the fruit of their practical conduct while on earth.

“And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule (shepherd) them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (vs. 15).

We have read in verse 13. that His Name is Called The Word of God. He called worlds into existence by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3). “He spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast” (Psa. 33:9). He speaks in grace today and dead sinners receive life, pardon, and peace. But that same voice will presently speak in judgment. No carnal weapon will be in His hands— “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked” (Isa. 11:4).

In this day of grace men are found foolish enough to close their ears to His voice, but in that day everyone must listen for He will come forth in all the majesty of universal authority with a name written clear and irresistible.

King of Kings and Lord of the Lords.

Judgment is God’s strange work and it is only man’s sin and rebellion that forces Him into that attitude. But when at length this day of grace will end God’s judgment will fall on different parties and in different ways.

The Coming Armageddon.

The closing verses of our chapter must be read in connection with Ezekiel 38 and 39. They describe the final military crisis amongst the nations of the whole earth just before the millennial reign of Christ which is presented to us in the next chapter.

It is towards this climax of human sin and devil-led folly and wickedness that things are tending today.

“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army” (vs. 19).

This has already been before us when considering chapter 16. It is the Armageddon of the future. It is Satan’s last effort against Christ before he himself is cast into the bottomless pit. The first prophecy of Scripture is now about to be carried out to the very letter. The Seed of the woman is about to bruise the Serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). One final effort he makes by stirring up the whole military machine of the nations, to hurl defiance at “Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.”

The issue of such insane folly was inevitable. The two leaders of this lawless apostasy and blasphemous iniquity are caught red-handed, and without the necessity of further trial are cast alive, without dying, into the lake of fire, their final doom. It is the military leader of the Western nations, the Beast; and the religious leader of the Jewish and Christian apostasies, the Antichrist reigning at Jerusalem.

“These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (vs. 20).

Thus while in heaven all will be peace, on earth will be rebellion and tumult. The Church and all the heavenly saints will be filling heaven with worship, but on earth all will be turmoil and violence. The center of the storm will be in Palestine. There the nations under the Beast and the king of the North, as well as the kings of all the earth will be assembled to cut off God’s earthly people from being a nation and to wipe out the name of Israel from all remembrance (see Psa. 83). Weapons of war will be in their hands (Ezek. 39:9), but the armies of heaven will need no such instruments. They follow an all-conquering Leader Who will consign to their eternal doom the guilty leaders of this rebellion, the remnant, less guilty in God’s sight and deceived by the Satanic miracles of the false prophet will fall slain by the sword of Him that sat on the horse, which sword proceedeth out of His mouth. Their final judgment will not take place for another one thousand years, as we shall see in the next chapter.

It is indeed a solemn thing to think that we are nearing the time of the fulfillment of these prophecies.

Christendom religiously is hastening to the predicted apostasy, the nations of the whole earth East and West, are sharpening their swords, Palestine is once again becoming the center of world interest, as it will soon become the battleground of the earth—the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh.

Chapter 45.

The Supper of the Great God.

Revelation 20.

The warrior judgment described at the end of the previous chapter (Rev. 19:17-21) is evidently the same as we find in Ezekiel 39. or at any rate immediately precedes it.

The Two Suppers.

In Revelation 19. there are two suppers described, but how different they are. Blessed, indeed, are those who are called to partake of the first (vs. 9), but awful will be the portion of those who find themselves involved in the terrors of the second (vs. 17).

The marriage supper of the Lamb will take place in heavenly glory, the supper of the great God will be amidst scenes of earthly carnage and blood.

A careful reading of Ezekiel 39. makes it clear that Palestine will be the theater of the great conflict of the future. There is to be a great military gathering upon the mountains of Israel under the leadership of Russia—Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. In spite of all the infidelity of these modern times, the day whereof God has spoken (Ezek. 39:8) is surely drawing nigh, when God will make known His holy Name in the midst of His people Israel, and the whole world will then know that He is the Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel (vs. 7).

The Ten Kings and the Beast.

Without attempting to fill in with too great precision every detail of the picture God has been pleased to give us of the closing events of this age, it seems clear that the ten kings and the Beast will be united only for a short while—they “receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (Rev. 17:12).

They are found at the close of Daniel’s 70th week in hostility to the Jews, having broken the seven years’ covenant that the coming Roman prince shall have confirmed with them (Dan. 9:27). But not only are they antagonistic to the Jews, they are in open and blasphemous rebellion against God and the earthly Jewish saints of the same period (Rev. 13:5-7). They hurl themselves defiantly against the Lamb and those called, chosen and faithful saints, who as the armies of heaven descend in glory, from the heavens, when He comes as KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Rev. 17. and 19).

Now we know that when the Lord comes forth to battle, His feet will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14). It is there that all the nations will be gathered to battle. There will first of all be the nations under the leadership of the Beast; these appear to be first dealt with at Jerusalem itself. The nations under Gog will then sweep in to the land to find the Lord Himself already there. They come as a cloud to cover the land” (Ezek. 38:16). They fall upon “the mountains of Israel” (Ezek. 39:2, 4, 17). The Beast seems to concentrate upon Jerusalem. Gog appears to deliver a wider attack, but when he does so he finds the Lord already there (Mic. 5:5). It will be as when Sennacherib invaded Palestine in B.100:710, Jehovah will say once again, “I will defend this city, to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake (2 Kings 19:34), for in truth David’s greater Son is now to take the throne—” behold, they were all dead corpses.”

Russia may now be making her blasphemous boast that she will drag God down from His throne but He will vet set His glory amongst the nations.

“And all the nations shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them.

“So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God from that day and forward” (Ezek. 39:17-22).

The Key of the Bottomless Pit.

The judgment of the Beast and False Prophet is followed by that of Satan himself, the malignant foe of God and man (Rev. 20:1-3).

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.”

Lest there should be any doubt as to the identification of this cunning and sinister enemy of the human race allusion is made to his early attack upon God and man in the Garden of Eden—he is called “that old serpent.”

“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.”

These four titles are also found in Revelation 12:9. The hour of his judgment is here seen about to commence, and he knew it. That first prophecy of Scripture had never been forgotten by Satan—IT SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD—the Seed of the woman is yet to triumph.

The bottomless pit is a place of captivity. It is the abode of fallen, evil spirits. In Revelation 9:1 we have seen that God will give the key to an evil dignitary, a fallen star, who will open that pestilential furnace and cause its poisonous fumes to spread. Evil men, and seducers are even now waxing worse and worse; they will presently culminate in the Antichrist or man of sin who will be revealed after the removal of the Church when the Holy Spirit will be taken away (2 Thess. 2). This fallen star may be that very Antichrist. However that may be, fumes from the pit are already belching forth in Russia and spreading through Communistic and Atheistical Societies throughout Europe. The anti-God campaign has taken a firmer hold in our land than most are aware of.

In Revelation 20:3 we are told that after the destruction of the Beast and False Prophet, Satan who had energized these two wicked leaders of apostate Christendom will be cast into that pit of perdition, bound with the chain and locked with the key, so that for 1,000 years he will cease to deceive the nations.

The Beast and False Prophet caught red-handed in their violent but impotent rage against God and His Christ will be cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20). Another has said: —” Enoch and Elijah had been taken to heaven without dying; they had been active for God in testimony against evil. Here are two beings active for evil in testimony against God, thrust alive into hell fire without the preliminary of death.... The Devil, getting hold of both, puts the sword into the hand of the Beast, and spiritual manifestations into the hand of the False Prophet, The latter plays into the hand of the former. Both play into the hands of the Devil, man being the victim of their sins. The rest of the combatants are slain by a word from him that sits on the horse.” (Hartridge). These will remain in their condition of physical death, but conscious existence, until the thousand years are ended, then to stand for judgment before the Great White Throne.

Chapter 46

The First Resurrection and the Second Death.

Revelation 20:4-15.

Satan bound. — What a change will take place on the earth! Things are today getting worse, and the outlook is blacker than ever. To all outward appearance the answer to the cry has gone up to God, sometimes as a merely formal routine, at other times from the heart of multitudes, Thy Kingdom come! — seems further off than ever.

Indeed we have been considering the awful tribulation period that seems now every day to be drawing nearer. Satan, the Devil, that old Serpent, the great Dragon seems very active in Russia even now. But he is not yet “cast out” of heaven (Rev. 12:9). He soon will be, though. This has already been under review in these Studies—see Revelation 12. In spite of Treaties and Peace Parleys he will stir up strife amongst all nations, using the Beast and False Prophet very largely as his instruments for bringing about the real Armageddon of the future (Rev. 16:13-16). Armageddon is not so much international strife, but the armies of heaven meeting the armies of earth. It is called “the battle of the great day of God Almighty” to which “the kings of the whole world” will be gathered.

Yes, Satan will be bound. This will make a tremendous difference during the dispensation that will follow the time of tribulation. That dispensation is commonly called the Millennium because it will last for 1,000 years. This expression occurs six times in our chapter, and must be taken as a literal period of 1,000 years.

The Bottomless Pit.

The bottomless pit is a place of imprisonment. It is called the “abyss.” It is not the place of final doom. God is about to test man in a new way. The great deceiver of the nations is to be shut up. The parliaments of our time have little idea how all ‘their projects for the peace of the world and the betterment, of humanity are being frustrated. They forget that the rightful Heir has been rejected, yea, crucified, and that Satan has for the moment apparently triumphed. He deceiveth the whole world (Rev. 12:9); he blinds “the minds of them that believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4); he is an adversary that is always on the alert to devour any careless soul (1 Peter 5:8); from the very commencement of human, history throughout every dispensation the influence of Satan has constantly been at work both in the world and amongst the people of God. The Wicked One plucks out of the hearts of the hearers the good seed that God’s servants scatter, and sows the evil tares of false doctrine. He will energize the Antichrist and bring about the complete apostasy of Christendom. The seeds of all this wickedness are now being sown amongst all sections of the professing church (2 Thess. 2). But during the Millennium Satan will be bound, his activities for evil will be suppressed.

Thrones of Divine Judgment.

Not only will Satan be bound throughout the whole period of the Millennium but Christ will reign. Then will be fulfilled the bright prophecies of earthly blessing.

“Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment” (Isa. 32:1).

“Give the king Thy judgment O God, and Thy righteousness unto the king’s son.

“He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment......

“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” etc. (Psalm 72.)

Yes, Christ will reign; but that will be in a new dispensation. It will not be until He comes as the Ancient of Days (see Dan. 7). After the dispensation of grace is closed, after the apostasy is complete, after the Antichrist and the Beast have been cast into the lake of fire, after the first resurrection has been completed, it is then that He will reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords. But this involves His coming again, and that in its twofold aspect, namely, His coming into the air FOR His saints (1 Thess. 4), and His coming to the earth WITH His saints (Zech. 14).

Who are the saints that will come with Him? Who are the saints that will reign with Him? Who are the saints that will share in the first resurrection? These questions are answered in verse 4. They are there seen in three groups. They are the heavenly saints. They are the saints mentioned in Daniel 7:18, 22, 25, and 27, where they are called “the saints of the Most High, (or, of the high places, margin).” Of these saints it is said “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

“And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them” (vs. 4).

The first clause of this verse refers to those who were seen seated on thrones in Revelation 4. and 5.— the 24 elders. They represent, as we have already pointed out, the whole company of saints both of Old Testament and New Testament who will be raised at the coming of the Lord into the air. In other words they are “the dead in Christ” of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and “they that are Christ’s at His coming” of 1 Corinthians 15:23; and along with these all the living saints “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air, when His shout is heard.

The Groups of Martyrs

But there is another group here mentioned―

“And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God.”

These are the martyrs under the fifth seal (Rev. 6:9-11)— slain for the Word of God.

The religious leaders in Christendom today are abandoning all real belief in the Scriptures. They mock at those who declare their conviction that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. This unbelief is spreading amidst all classes, and bringing about the apostasy which will presently bring down God’s judgment upon the pressing Church, which will be rejected by Him, as the vessel of His testimony—spued out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). But these martyrs slain after the removal of the Church will yield an unflinching testimony, and seal it with their blood. They will be Jewish martyrs.

The exact moment of their resurrection is not stated Some have thought they will remain for a short while in their disembodied state, waiting till another group of martyrs is added. These are mentioned in Rev. 13:15.

We would not dogmatize on this point. But may it not be that as each yields up his life they pass into the heavenly scene, for “every one of them” is arrayed in a white robe which scarcely seems to fit a disembodied condition.

At any rate it is said of the three groups mentioned in verse 4 that they live and reign with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection, the resurrection of the saints. The rest of the dead, the wicked dead, remain in their disembodied state until the thousand years are finished. Six times is this period of 1,000 years mentioned in this passage, which doubtless is to be understood in its literal sense. We are nearing now the termination of man’s history on the earth, which in spite of the wild guesses of evolution we hold to be about 6,000 years. May not the Millennium of these verses be the seventh thousand, thus completing the full week of God’s dealings with man on the earth— “there remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9, R.V.), and “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). The vast stretch of eternity lies beyond, namely, the day of God for which we look, the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Throughout the Gospel period of nearly 2,000 years since Pentecost, grace has been reigning through righteousness. During the Millennium a King shall reign in righteousness. But in the eternal state righteousness will dwell.

The first resurrection, then, is first by contrast with those who die in their sins, and who will be raised to be judged for their sins when the thousand years will he finished (vs. 5). A blessed and holy company they will be—their only title, the blood of the Lamb. The first resurrection will be complete at the dawn of the Millennial day. Not a single saint of God will be left in the tomb when Christ takes to Himself His great power and His reign begins. No saint will die during the Millennium. It is important to remember that there is no such thing as a “general” resurrection. The resurrection is selective. The first resurrection is a resurrection after the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was the “first fruits” (1 Cor. 15:20); they that are Christ’s—all of them—will follow “at His coming.” It is in this sense that it is selective; not selective of some saints as being more worthy than other saints, but “they that are Christ’s” in contrast to “the rest of the dead” who die in their sins. It was this selective resurrection of all saints that Paul had abandoned all self-righteousness of his own in order to obtain, and at the cost of suffering the loss of all things that he might be found in Christ, arrayed not in the rags of his own righteousness, but in the spotless robe of the righteousness of God by faith The first resurrection is not only a resurrection OF the dead, but “OUT FROM AMONGST the dead,” and those that are accounted worthy to obtain that resurrection evidence by that very fact that they are “the children of God” (Luke 20:34-36).

Chapters 47

The Millennium and After.

Revelation 20:7-15.

It is clear that there is to be a time of earthly blessing after the appearing in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is commonly called the warrior judgment will have taken place just previous to this period, which from the length of its duration is called the, Millennium, an expression which means “a thousand years” found six times in the opening part of our chapter.

As we have seen, the glorified saints will then be reigning with Christ, and Satan will be confined in the bottomless pit. Magnificent descriptions of this period are contained in the O.T. Prophets and in the Psalms, giving glowing pictures of earthly grace and prosperity for all the nations of the earth.

Another has written: ―

“Of the millennial earth, not even the slightest sketch is given us here. The book of Revelation is the closing’ book of prophecy, with the rest of which we are supposed to be familiar.... The reign of the heavenly saints has just been shown us: for details as to the earth, we must go to the Old Testament” (Grant).

The Millennium.

However far removed we may be from a state of earthly peace, there are few who have given up; the expectation of such a time. Even utterly worldly men are often found using the word “millennium,” an evidence of the hold that the Scriptures have upon the minds of men who may even pretend to disbelieve its divine source. We are accustomed to hear men speak of bringing in the Kingdom of God. It seems a long time coming by human effort, well meant as surely it often is. But it will come as we are told when “the time to favor Zion, yea, the set time, is come.” And, “when the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory” (Psa. 102).

Satan Loosed.

“And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison” (vs. 7).

The Millennium is not the final goal. Men on the earth will have been put to a fresh test throughout the 1,000 years’ reign of Christ and the glorified saints. Again quoting: — “The glory of God is manifested so that the earth is filled with the knowledge of it as the waters cover the sea. Righteousness rules, and evil is afraid to lift its head. The curse is taken from the ground, which responds with wondrous fruitfulness. Amid all this, the spiritual condition is by no means in correspondence with the outward blessing. Even the manifested connection of righteousness and prosperity cannot avail to make man love righteousness, nor the goodness of God, though evidenced on every side, to bring man to repentance. At the ‘four corners of the earth,’ retreating as far as possible from the central glory, there are still those who represent Israel’s old antagonists, and thus are called by their names— ‘Gog and Magog.’ Nor are they remnants, but masses of population, brought together by sympathetic hatred of God and His people... a last and terrible answer to the question, ‘Lord, what is man?’”

“The Gog, of the land of Magog, whose invasion of Israel is prophetically described in the book of Ezekiel (38., 39.), is the prototype of these last invaders. There need be no confusion, however, between them; for the invasion of Ezekiel is pre-millennial, not post-millennial, as that in Revelation is” (Grant).

The Inhabitants of the Earth.

Some may ask. Who will enter the Millennium?

In the first place, Israel as a saved nation— “All Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26). When the Redeemer comes to Zion (Isa. 59:20) He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, thus for the first time on earth shall he seen a whole nation saved.

“Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land— (i.e., the land given by unconditional promise to Abraham) forever—the branch of My planting, the work of My hands that I may he glorified” (Isa. 60:21).

Besides this, all those that shall be born of Israel during the millennium shall be known amongst the nations as “the seed which the Lord hath blessed” (Isa. 61:9).

However mysterious this may seem to us, God made choice of Israel “above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6)— not because of their might (Deut. 7:1), nor because of their number (Deut. 7:7), nor because of their goodness (Deut. 9:5), but simply “because the Lord loved you” (Deut. 7:8).

In Matthew 25:31-46, we are given a wonderful picture of what will take place when the Lord Jesus as Son of man shall come in His glory. All the living nations shall be gathered before Him. Multitudes amongst them will have been saved as the result of the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 24:14) by the Jewish remnant, who are called by the King— “these my brethren” (Matt. 25:40). These born-again Gentiles will enter the Millennium, as it is said, “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34).

But there will be some amongst the Gentile nations that will apparently yield a feigned allegiance to Christ, As soon as they hear of the tremendous happenings connected with the return of Christ to Jerusalem they will realize that opposition will be vain―

“As soon as they hear of Me, they shall obey Me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto Me,” or as the margin reads, “shall yield feigned obedience” (Psa. 18:44).

The same expression occurs in Psalms 66:3— “Say unto God, How terrible art Thou in Thy works! through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee,” or, “yield feigned obedience” (margin).

The works here described are not His works in creation nor redemption, but in judgment, when He rules by His power, subduing the rebellious amongst the nations that would exalt themselves against Him.

The Last Great Battle.

It will be just as necessary for salvation of any during the Millennium to be born again by personal faith in Christ as it is now. Of those who enter that period of earthly bliss in an unsaved condition we are not told if any will be saved or not. But with Satan bound and Christ and the glorified saints reigning at Jerusalem it would seem hard to think that no heart could be touched. But whether this be so or not when Satan is loosed his baneful influence will soon spread to the remotest corners of the earth. Can it be that sin-burdened conscience and a hostile heart had driven these pretended followers as far as possible from the center of this earthly kingdom of the Son of man? One thing at least is certain sinful man will need conversion during that period of bliss as much as now.

Satan that deceiveth the whole world, loosed from his prison, will never again have access to heaven from whence he was cast down (Rev. 12:9). But he was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), and a murderer he will be to the end. For the believer his power is now broken. Through the death, the sacrificial death, of our adorable Lord and Saviour his power has been destroyed, and myriads of men, women and children have been delivered from fear and bondage (Heb. 14-15)

The Beloved City.

When cast out of heaven, as he will be just prior to the great Tribulation (Rev. 12), he knows his time will be short—it will be shorter now as he goes out to deceive the nations and gather them to this last battle in human history. Jerusalem the beloved city, the city over which Christ wept in the days of His humiliation, the city outside whose walls Satan at Calvary had received his death-blow— “that through death He might destroy (annul) him that had the power of death—that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14)— that city that will be the center of earthly blessing (Isa. 2) now becomes the object of attack.

The Camp of the Saints.

If the final test is given of men in the four corners of the earth, it must be made manifest ‘that no traitors will be found in the beloved city nor in the camp of the saints. It has been suggested that the camp of the saints is the whole company of the heavenly saints who are as the Lord’s host in defense of the earthly Jerusalem.

Whether that be so or not, the attack is futile, for the fire of God’s wrath descends upon the invaders and devours them, leaving not even their corpses, as had been the case when “the Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold” (Isa. 37:36). No trace of them will be left on earth. The age-long rebel of God and deceiver of men was cast into the lake of fire.

The Great Deceiver.

From the beginning of man’s history Satan exerted all his efforts to destroy him. “The Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety” (2 Cor. 11:3). By reason of his rebellion against the Most High he is doomed to the eternal judgment of hell—a hell prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). Hell has not been prepared for men, but Satan the great deceiver has for 6,000 years exercised his deadly power over the human race—he “deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).

At the close of chapter 19 we have seen the awful doom of two real men, the Beast and the False Prophet. Taken red-handed and banded together against Christ as He appears in His majesty and glory they are cast alive into the lake of fire, where it is stated absolutely they will still be a thousand years later (Rev. 20:10). There the great deceiver will also be, and there “forever and ever.” Whatever some may say as to the fire, whether material or symbolic, God would impress upon the mind the awful fact of the reality of a place of punishment, and a condition of torment to last throughout eternity. There is no room here for either annihilation or universalism.

The Great White Throne.

This is the judgment of the dead. In Matthew 25. we have described the judgment of the living nations who will be gathered before the glorified Son of man before the Millennial reign begins. But this judgment of the Great White Throne will take place after the thousand years are finished. No true believer will stand amongst that resurrected company. The dead in Christ had all been raised in glory before the thousand years began. These others are “the rest of the dead” that do not rise until the thousand years are finished (Rev. 20:5).

The Books Were Opened.

The scene here described will take place in eternity. Time conditions will be over. The earth and heaven, such as we now know them, will have fled away. This is the resurrection of judgment, the resurrection of those who have lived and died in their sins (John 5:29). The resurrection of life had taken place a thousand years before. It will be a judgment of strictest equity— “according to their works.” The books contain the record of their lives. This will be the evidence of their guilt.

Some may ask, But will not all, believers and unbelievers, be judged according to their works? Nay, verily; the believer in Christ will not come into a judgment of that kind (John 5:24). Three things are here stated as to every true believer.

Hath everlasting life.

Shall not come into judgment.

Passed from death unto life.

How different for the unbeliever. Long forgotten sins will appall his memory— “the books were opened.” There, as we have said, is the positive record of a guilty past. It will be an individual judgment— “every man according to his works.”

The Book of Life.

But there is another book—the Book of Life. Does that book contain the name of any unbeliever? How can it? It is only those who hear and believe whose names are found in the Book of Life.

Written in the Books.

The Devil, the great deceiver of mankind, has succeeded—alas, too well! — in blotting out of man’s mind all thought of a coming day of judgment, but God has appointed that day and ordained the Judge. There will be a resurrection of judgment as well as one of life. The resurrection of life had taken place a thousand years before at the coming of the Lord. Not one of those then to be raised will be judged “according to their works.” They could each one point to the ordained Judge and say, “The. Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

‘Tis done, the great transaction’s done!

I am my Lord’s and He is mine.

The certainty of coming judgment is looked upon by many as an exploded theory. “Death ends all” is the Devil’s slogan; but death itself will cease to be. At the first resurrection “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54), that will introduce the Millennium (see Isa. 25:8), but at its close death will be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26). “Death (the body) and hades (the soul) were cast into the lake of fire.” This refers to the wicked dead, proved guilty according to their works. This is the second death.

Whilst there will be some who will never die even once, for they will be amongst “we which are alive and remain” (1 Thess. 4:17), there will be others who will die twice, physically and judicially.

This closes the seven thousand year history of human sin, the eternal state is to follow—a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Chapter 48

The Eternal State.

Revelation 21:1-9.

From chapters 19 to 21:8 is one consecutive account of the tremendous events that follow upon the downfall of “that great city, Babylon, that mighty city.”

Babylon of Revelation 17. seems to portray that great religious system that commits spiritual fornication with the kings and inhabitants of the earth.

Babylon of Revelation 18. depicts the same system from a commercial point of view.

They will both have their center of importance and influence in Rome—ecclesiastical and geographical—but their ramifications will spread far and wide throughout the earth.

The events that have been described in chapter 19. And 20. May be briefly summarized as follows—

Babylon judged—Revelation 17. and 28.

The Marriage of the Lamb—19:1-9.

Christ’s glorious appearing—19:11-16.

Overthrow and final doom of the Beast and False Prophet—19:17-20.

The kings of the earth and their armies slain― 19:21.

Satan bound—20:1-3.

Reign of Christ and the glorified saints for 1,000 years—20:4-6.

Satan loosed from his prison; Gog and Magog revolt—20:7, 8.

Rebellion crushed—20:9.

Satan eternally disposed of—20:10.

The Great White Throne judgment of the wicked dead—20:11-15.

The close of the Millennium carries us down to the end of the 7,000 years of man’s earthly history. We take no account of the wild guesses of modern science. The speculative theories of evolution have become largely discounted even in the eyes of their former votaries. The stubborn facts of archeology as they are constantly being disemboweled from the earth are evidencing the accuracy of Biblical history.

Nearly 6,000 years have already run their course. They may be roughly divided into three parts. First 2,000 years carries us from the re-making of the earth as man’s habitat to Abraham. This we might call the Gentile history, and is largely individual.

Second 2,000 years carries us from Abraham to Christ. This is Jewish history and is national.

Third 2,000 years from Calvary possibly to the Rapture. This is Church history—a new creation where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but one body called out from both Jew and Gentile.

The signs of the times and the close study of Scripture lead many to believe that the coming of the Lord is at hand. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, thus six of these days are just about to end. Will the next day of a thousand years be the Millennium—the day of the Lord? It will come in as a thief in the night, and at its close the earth and heavens which are now will pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 3). In view of the awful terror of that day an urgent appeal should go forth. Mercy is offered to all—salvation by grace through faith, the free gift of God, and not by works of man’s righteousness. Yes, mercy is offered to each and all, only deliberate rejectors will be lost.

To return, the six symbolic days of man’s history have been thus described: —” Six days formed man’s day, namely, two days to show man without law, two days to show man under law, and two days to show man under grace—two witnesses of each great fact, and, in each, two prominent personal witnesses: Enoch and Noah, Moses and Elijah, Christ and the Holy Ghost. In each, one was taken up into heaven and the other testified on earth. But the seventh day, the day of the Lord, introduced as with the stealthy and sudden approach of a thief, and ending by the dissolution of all things, will be for the display of all God’s ways and purposes and counsels IN THE MAN—HIS MAN—THE SECOND MAN—THE LORD JESUS—JEHAH’S FELLOW” (Hartridge).

A New Heaven and New Earth.

The first eight verses of Revelation 21. run on as we have said, consecutively from chapters 20 They arc a description of eternity. The eternal state is different from everything that has preceded.

The earth and the heavens that are now are said to be dissolved, pass away, melt with fervent heat, fled away (2 Peter 3; Rev. 20:11). What then are we to understand by a new heaven and a new earth? The heavens here spoken of are the earth-heavens, and not “the heaven of heavens” where God dwells. Dissolution does not involve extinction. Some have asked, Does a new earth mean a new creation, or is it re-modelling? We are told that God rested on the seventh day from all His works. Those were works of creation, and they were “finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:3). On the other hand we read, “My Father worth hitherto and I work” (John 5:17-21). But these were works of grace.

The dissolution of the earth and heavens at the close of the Millennium is a catastrophe likened in 2 Peter 3. to the overflowing of the earth with water at the flood “the world that then was being overflowed with water perished,” but this did not mean annihilation, for as the water of the flood receded “in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried” (Gen. 8:14). It was the same earth but renewed, and God swore “that the waters of Noah should no more go over it” (Isa. 54:9).

Yet the language of Revelation 21:1 seems to go beyond a re-modelling of the present earth— “the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” We leave to our readers the further study of this most interesting question.

No More Sea.

It is clear that more must be understood by the new heaven and the new earth than anything that had preceded in Millennial condition. In Isa. 60. we are told that the sea and shipping will have a great deal to do with Palestine and the Jewish people―

“the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee.... “Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and gold with them” (Isa. 60:5, 9).

That will be during the Millennium. But in the eternal state there will be no sea—no separation of nations, no boundaries of countries. For there will be no nations distinct the one from the other—not even Jews and Gentiles in their separate national condition, but simply “man” as such.

It will be unlike everything that has been seen or known throughout the history of the world. On the new earth there will not be two classes, the saved and the unsaved, as there are now. In the new earth, as well as heaven, divine righteousness will dwell. Throughout the Millennium the earth will be governed in righteousness, but in the eternal state will be experienced the full force of the words, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

All the population of the new earth will have been born and born again in the old earth. The first eight verses of our chapter describe what will be the unchanging condition of things throughout eternity as far as is possible for us to conceive. All distinctions such as Jew and Gentile will have ceased—

“the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God” (vs. 3).

The mediatorial kingdom of the Son will have ceased, and God will be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). But though national distinctions will have ceased, and though there will not be then, as is the case now, the people of God as distinct from the other inhabiters of the earth, yet there will be throughout eternity, a distinction between what is earthly and what is heavenly.

“I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (vs. 2).

Interesting and important questions at once arise with reference to the city and the Bride. These we may consider later on. But here it is worthy of careful attention that a thousand years before this descent out of heaven, the marriage of the Lamb had taken place as described in Revelation six. A further and detailed description of the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, is given in our chapter from verse 9 onward.

The holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Bride remain in all their beauty and glory, untarnished by 1,000 years. The Bride is something dear to the heart of the Lamb, the Lamb that had suffered at Calvary. The passing of 1,000 years does not diminish her beauty in His sight, nor alter one whit the love that led Him to die and suffer for her.

It does not seem that the holy city, new Jerusalem, actually comes down to earth. She shines with the glory of God (Rev. 21:11), and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it (vs. 24). That will be throughout the Millennium. In verse 2 to 8 is given a beautiful description of the link between the heavenly tabernacle of God and mankind upon the earth—no more weeping eyes, no more dying agony, no more sorrow, no more pain; these former things, the fruit of sin, will have passed away forever.

“He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.”

Impossible as it is for us with our limited powers to appreciate the full import of the brief description of the eternal state here given, yet it is written for us to read, and read again. And the words are true and faithful. Every word might well detain us. As it was when God first brought all things into existence in the past— “He spake, and it was done” (Psa. 33:9)— so in this final creation the words go forth— “He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”

In that new creation all soul-thirst will be satisfied with the streams that flow freely from the fountain of the water of life. And though there will be a countless multitude in that new earth, yet each one has his or her individual experience, each one will drink of the water of life for himself, and each one will have reached the rest that rains for the people of God by a path of individual conflict and victory, for the path of the saints of God has never been an easy one.

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be his God, and he shall be My son” (vs. 7).

What is true of the redeemed as a whole (vs. 3) will be the experience of each individual (vs. 7) in that day. Awful indeed will be the portion of those who deliberately reject God’s salvation freely offered to all.

Another has written, “Just here, with no less earnestness, and in eternity, past all the change of time, the doom of the wicked is pronounced: but the fearful—too cowardly to take part with Christ in a world opposed to Him,— and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Grant).

The time to make the fateful choice is NOW, on this side of death.

Chapter 49

The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.

Revelation 21:9-27.

It is of great importance that we should understand that the first eight verses of this chapter are a description of the eternal state, and that at verse 9 the Holy Spirit goes back to give a detailed picture of the new Jerusalem and the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife in her millennial connection.

There has been much diversity of opinion amongst earnest Bible students with reference to the Bride. Is it something Jewish or Christian? And if either, is it something selective from each? Or, is it a select combination out of both?

Evidently the Bride must be understood in a figurative manner, for in Revelation 21:2, John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, prepared “as a bride.” Further, this figure is found in the Old Testament as well as in the New. This has led some to affirm that there will be an earthly as well as a heavenly Bride, just as there will be an earthly Jerusalem as well as the heavenly. The earthly Jerusalem, during the Millennium, will be the metropolis of saved Israel, the beloved city (20:9), in the land of Palestine. This clearly will be Jewish.

Are There Two Brides.

Another has written: — “In the Old Testament these figures of marriage are used. Israel was Jehovah’s married wife (Isa. 54:1; Jer. 31:32), now divorced indeed for her unfaithfulness, but yet to return (Hos. 2), and be received and reinstated. Her Maker will be then once more her husband and more than the old blessing be restored. In the forty-fifth psalm, Israel’s king, Messiah, is the Bridegroom; the Song of Solomon is the mystic song of His espousals. Jerusalem thus heard His name— “this is the name whereby He shall be called, Jehovah, our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16, cf. 23:6). The land, too, shall be married (Isa. 62:4).”

“In the New Testament the same figure is still used in the same way. The Baptist speaks of his joy as the friend of the Bridegroom” in hearing the Bridegroom’s voice (John 3:29), and in the parable of the virgins (Matt. 25), where Christians are those who go forth to meet the Bridegroom, they are by that very fact not regarded as the Bride, which is still Israel (according to the general character of the prophecy).

“All this, therefore, is in that earthly sphere in which Israel’s blessings lie; our own are ‘in heavenly places’ (Eph. 1:3), and here it is we find, not the Bride of Messiah simply, but distinctively ‘the Bride of the Lamb.’ The ‘Lamb’ as a title always keeps before us His death, and that by violence, — ‘a Lamb as it had been slain’ (Rev. 5:6), — and it is thus that He has title to that redemptive empire in which we find Him throughout this book. But ‘the Bride of the Lamb’ is thus one espoused to Him in His rejection and shares (though it be in slight measure) in His reproach and sorrow” (Grant).

The Old Testament Bride (Psa. 45) is associated with Christ as triumphant Messiah with girded sword, riding in majestic glory, His enemies falling before Him. But the Bride of Revelation is one associated with a rejected and suffering Lamb. The one is earthly, the other heavenly—the very thing that makes the distinction between Israel and the Church.

The Harlot and the Bride.

On the face of it, it is impossible not to connect Revelation 17:1 with Revelation 21:9—but this connection is by contrast, In each case one of the vial angels talks with John. In each case, the angel says, “Come hither; I will show unto thee, etc.” But how different the vision, how great the contrast! The very similarity of the angelic invitation emphasizes the contrast. A moral wilderness is the viewpoint of Revelation 17, a high and heavenly mountain that of Revelation 21 The great Whore in contrast with the spotless Bride of the Lamb. Earthly glory in contrast with the glory of God.

The picture of Revelation 17. is too clear to need identification—an ecclesiastical system characterized by spiritual fornication with the world, by religious idolatry, and stained with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. If Revelation 17. depicts the harlot church, does it not follow that Revelation 21. describes the true church which Christ loved, and for which He gave Himself?

And what is the Church? Who that reads the epistle to the Ephesians can have the smallest difficulty in answering that question? But the Church has an eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ―

“Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen” (Eph. 3:21).

With all deference to others we must state our own firm conviction that the Bride in Revelation 21. is a term used to describe the relationship of the Church to Christ—not a part of the Church, but the Church in its entirety, including every saved soul from Pentecost to the rapture. Christ loved the Church, we read in Ephesians 5:26—not a part of the Church, and He will present her to Himself “a glorious. Church,” that is, the Church in her entirety.

In the passage now under consideration (Rev. 21:9-22:5) a picture is drawn before our wondering eyes of the Church in her millennial connection with the earth.

Many figures are used in the New Testament describing the Church—a body (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:23, etc.)— a building, a temple, an holy habitation (Eph. 2:21, 22); each of these has a most important line of teaching attached to it. Here in Revelation 21. a different symbol is used, that of a city, but, unlike all human cities which oft-times are scenes of violence, immorality and sin, this is “the HOLY city Jerusalem.” It is divine, in origin, it comes down from God. It is heavenly in character, it comes out of heaven from God. It is holy in nature, a moral contrast to man’s great city, Babylon, whether that be a literal or symbolic Babylon.

The City and the Church.

It is an interesting question, whether the city and the Bride are co-extensive. That they are very closely connected is clear.

Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). Vast as Ur of the Chaldees was, and deeply laid as were its foundations, even as present-day excavations are bringing to light, yet Abraham left all for the path of faith, seeking a better country and a more enduring city, better than a Palestinian Jerusalem, “an heavenly...” for God hath prepared for him and the Old Testament saints a city whose builder and maker is God.

Remembering that Pentecost was the birthday of the Church, it is clear that the saints in dispensations that preceded were not incorporated in that. They died in faith (Heb. 11:13), awaiting the “better resurrection” (11:35). The day of realization of the earthly promises, so far as they were concerned, has been postponed. God having provided some better thing for us of this dispensation, they await their glorified condition until His work of present grace is completed. That work, we believe, is the calling out of the Church, now going on. It will be completed at the rapture. Then all who died in faith in the ages past, along with those who sleep in Jesus during the present dispensation, as well as those alive when He comes, shall be glorified together. This, we believe, is the meaning of Hebrews 11:40. The expression made perfect “is to be understood in the same sense all through the epistle (see 2:10; 5:9; 7: 23). In these verses, to be “made perfect” implies to be “glorified.”

Whilst dispensationally the Church has been provided with better things than they, yet their practical fidelity often puts us to shame.

Sinai and Zion.

A deeply interesting passage of Scripture comes to our help as showing that the heavenly Jerusalem and the Church are not identically the same, though very closely allied. We refer to Hebrews 12:22-26.

We (Christians) are not come to the Mount that burned with fire, etc. In other words, we have not come to the law as our ground of relationship with God. Nay, verily, from that we are delivered (Rom. 7:6).

“Free from the law! O happy condition!” Jesus hath bled, and there is remission! Cursed by the law, and bruised by the Fall, Grace hath redeemed us once for all.”

No! we are not come to Sinai, but to Mount Zion, the city of sovereign and royal grace. But this introduces a wonderful circle of heavenly blessings which it is our privilege to behold now by faith, as we shortly shall enter into full possession. And what are they?

1. Mount Zion.

These mountains are here used not in a mere geographical sense, but as two distinct principles of relationship with God—Sinai for law, Zion for grace. But this suggests—

2. The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. In other words, the very city described more fully in Revelation 21 Associated with that there will be not only sinners saved by grace through faith, but an angelic host.

3. An innumerable company of angels, the “general assembly.” The divisions of the verses in our Bibles are somewhat misleading. A glance at the Greek shows that the expression “general assembly” refers to the angelic host (vs. 22) and not to “the Church of the first-born ones” (vs. 23).

4. The Church of the first born which are written in heaven.

It is not our purpose now to enlarge upon this most interesting passage, but simply to point out the distinction between the “city” (vs. 22) and the “church” (vs. 23). In this inventory of our Christian inheritance here dcribed, they are mentioned as two distinct though closely associated objects.

Turning again to Revelation 21—it seems that we are intended to understand that the city will be the home of everything heavenly—angels are included, the church is included, “the spirits of just men made perfect,” or the saints that died before the Pentecostal change of dispension—these will all appear in their glorified bodies, “made perfect.”

COME, LORD JESUS!

The Bride, the Lamb’s wife, will in that transcendent scene of glory hold a position of special nearness to her gorified Lord.

“Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; “That he might present it to Himself a glorious church,” etc. (Eph. 5:25,26.)

The love of Christ for the Church is beyond a question, but the Church itself is in such a state of ruin that bridal affection for Christ is little understood. Individuals may say, “Come”— but the Bride is a collective term.

As things grow worse and denominational churches fall into apostasy, might not all true Christians hear a separating call, and rally together at the cry, “Come, Lord Jesus”?

The early Brethren made a genuine attempt at it. This has failed, as everything in which man takes a part has ever done.

It may seem a miracle impossible of accomplishment, but God with whom all things are possible may yet cause every true Christian to cry, Come!

At the very end of the dispensation—the Spirit and the Bride say, COME!

Surely, I come quickly. Amen Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with on all. Amen.

Apocalypse Expounded

Table of Contents

Trees and Green Grass.

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 21.

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapters 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37.

Chapter 38

Chapters 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 46

Chapter 45.

Chapter 46

Chapters 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49