Division 1

From: Revelation of Jesus Christ By: W R Hartridge

Revelation 5‑9 • 1.2 hr. read • grade level: 8

The First Seal

The Lamb opens all the seals. The living creatures call forth the first four judgments; the seer hears the voice, and sees the effect produced by it. In the opening of the remaining three seals, effects are also seen and recorded.

Throughout this Book attention must be paid severally to that which was “seen,” and that which was “heard.” In Rev. 22:8,⁸And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. (Revelation 22:8) he says, “I, John, was he who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen,” etc. These words invariably mark distinct phases of the prophecy. There were things seen, and things heard, which were not prefaced with these words. The reader is earnestly invited to watch these clues, to enable him to catch the Spirit’s meaning. God has on purpose designed His Book that the diligent may be enriched, while the slothful gets but little. The true way to search for wisdom is “as for hid treasures” (Prov. 2:4⁴If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; (Proverbs 2:4)). Another principle with God is, that every truth got in this way He will add to—To him that hath, shall be given (Matt. 13:12¹²For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. (Matthew 13:12)).

“Noise of thunder.” Thunder is a term used in connection with judgment, to convey the sense of terror accompanying what it is used with.

“One of the four.” This refers to the first like a lion, because all the others are designated second, third, fourth. Had it said “first,” it would have indicated priority, which none of these creatures has.

“A white horse.” A horse denotes strength: “Hast thou given the horse his strength?... He rejoices in his strength” (Read Job 39:19-25¹⁹Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? ²⁰Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. ²¹He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. ²²He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. ²³The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. ²⁴He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. ²⁵He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. (Job 39:19‑25)). White, meaning human righteousness that God can own. The united symbol denotes a powerful one going forth with a righteous cause owned of God. “Bow.”

“His bow abode in strength” (Gen. 49:24²⁴But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) (Genesis 49:24)). As the one like a lion called him forth, there can be but one conclusion, great strength and might indicated. Victory was assured, for a crown was given him. He conquered as he went, and conquest was before him.

The first judgment, therefore, that falls upon the earth, after the rapture of the saints and the short interval indicated by chaps. 4 and 5, is the calling forth of some mighty one, who, like the first Napoleon, carries his conquests everywhere. Being appointed by God for this purpose, nothing can resist him. Such a thing has occurred before, although never on such a grand scale; and men may possibly regard it as within the order of things they have been accustomed to call providential, not knowing that what has happened hitherto has always had a restraining influence accompanying it. God has always hitherto tempered judgment with mercy, but these are judgments pure and simple; they will increase in intensity and character as they proceed, and there will be singular intervals in which God will open doors of escape,―cities of refuge, as it were,―for those to flee to, who are divinely acted on to turn to God, and cry for deliverance, just as Pharaoh did; and some will escape, if they hold to the value of the blood once shed. (See Rev. 7:14¹⁴And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14).) A great multitude that no man can number will ultimately be found ascribing their salvation to Him on the throne and to the Lamb; and in the presence of the throne, and servants in the temple, shall these be.

It will help the reader to understand these judgments better, if he views the world as in a condition similar to the times of Matthew 12. The truth of this will be seen when it is remembered that the Roman Empire, which for about 1500 years had been in a dormant state, is revived in more than its original power; the object, of course, being to resume the thread of history where it was broken off by that strange interlude, THE CHURCH. It will be remembered that the blessed Lord, having presented Himself to Israel, that nation answered by slaying His messenger, and driving Himself out of the land. Definitively rejected, He betook Himself into the Gentile portion of Palestine, and at Caesarea Philippi enunciated THE CHURCH, and its immunity from Satan’s power to destroy it. The 1900 years have seen the CHURCH removed, and the history resumed where it was broken off, say after Matt. 12:45⁴⁵Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. (Matthew 12:45).

The Second Seal

“And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come.” The second creature, like a calf, that is, a young bull―a type, not of strength only, but of endurance also―gives force to what follows. There came forth another horse. It is a consequence of the first. It is still strength and power, as under the first seal, but red; for whereas under the first seal it was conquest only, splendid, daring, irresistible everywhere; here it is slaughter, every man’s sword is turned against his fellow; perhaps as the result of the overturning under the previous seal (for it has not the word, “I saw, and behold”). And not only so, but the rider of the horse has a great sword given to him, so that with peace disturbed everywhere, internecine and civil strife predominant, and carnage, this judgment exceeds in severity that which has preceded it.

We are also enlightened on another important point, even at this early stage of the judgment. The Lord of hosts has got His eyes fixed on Jerusalem. His jealousy has been aroused in respect of Jerusalem and Zion with a great jealousy. He has indeed been displeased with His people, but the nations helped on the affliction, and therefore He is very sore displeased with them. He is going to comfort Zion, and make Jerusalem a city of His choice; and though He can only reach her through judgment, yet He will do so. His promises to the fathers, which were the outflow of His heart’s desire 4,000 years agone, shall yet have their fulfillment to the letter. In the prophet Zechariah, about B.C. 520, at the foundation of the second Temple, and about 75 years before the commencement of the 70 weeks of Daniel, the word of the Lord came to the prophet. It is one of those events having great underlying importance, for the exact date is given. It was the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the second year of Darius Hystaspes of Persia, that is, about the middle of March, 519 B.C. The prophet was enabled to look down the long centuries that should intervene, and see the old folks walking about Jerusalem, and the boys and girls playing in the streets. “They shall be My people, and I will be their God.” But judgment must come in first. “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.” It is, however, useless to attempt to give an adequate idea in a few words. The student of the Word must read on from the words referred to.

“I saw in the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse” (Zech. 1:8⁸I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. (Zechariah 1:8)). In these last days, when the Crisis Week of Daniel is close at hand, generalities will not instruct us. We must gather up the Lord’s mind from the precious prophecies which came to their close in Malachi, just as the first week of Daniel’s 70 weeks was ending.

Does the reader of these pages realize the fact that it is possible the subjects which come before us in this Book may be in operation in a remarkably short space of time? Any person pretending to name the day, or the hour, would be a gross impostor; and even to venture to name the presumed year is an infringement of the divine prerogative, which has justly brought ridicule upon those who have been loose enough to commit themselves to such statements. But, on the other hand, to be insensible to the extreme nearness of the crisis, would betray a singular stupidity (to use no more expressive term) as to what is passing in devout men’s writings, as well as in the world’s records, at the present day; and God has set these thoughts in motion for the very purpose of their being on the alert. It was equally so at the Lord’s first advent. Expectancy occupied the minds of the devout, and even found expression in the verses of the court poet. Of course, everything happened differently to what people expected; and so it will be in the present instance. It is when everybody says, “Peace and safety” (they have already had “peace with honor”), that sudden destruction comes, without escape. It is not that anyone dreams of permanent peace and safety; but the present moment is all the world lives for. If anything is certain it is the suddenness of coming events.

The Third Seal

Now, under the third seal, we no longer look for the strength of the lion, nor for the strength and endurance of the ox, but for that which appeals in a powerful way through man himself. The third living creature is heard saying, Come. And I saw and behold a black horse! the usual sign of mourning being black, as red is of blood and slaughter. The rider holds in his hands a pair of scales, for famine and scarcity are now the prevailing features, as we shall find in Leviticus: “When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight” (Lev. 26:26²⁶And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. (Leviticus 26:26)), so indicating the preciousness of that which cannot be spared, even to the turn of the scale. But this sore famine weighs most heavily upon the laboring classes, as is indicated by the voice heard from the midst of the four living creatures, which declares that a day-laborer will not be able to procure more than a pint and a half of wheat for his day’s work, or four pints and a half of barley. We have seen something of the dire effects of famine, but nothing to the extent in which these judgments set it forth; for after the great slaughter of the previous seal, the breadwinners will be few, and the sufferings of hunger are immediate, and urgent and cannot be met by the spared luxuries of life―for the oil and the wine are not to be hurt. A painful view is seen of the despondency and misery of those who, not long before were wont to show their self-will in Confederacies, and could in great measure rely on the bounties of others. Under these judgments things will be greatly changed. A vast amount of relief during this present day of grace springs from the mixed motives of those who profess Christianity: some doing their utmost for Christ’s sake; others doing their utmost to recommend themselves to God’s mercy and forbearance. But in that day these motives will have changed; Christ’s own will have been taken to heaven and the others who have been left among the earth-dwellers will have found out the hopelessness of good deeds that get no credit, nor any recognition whatever. “Each for himself,” is the natural language of the human heart, and the judgment will but intensify these sad traits. Left without a motive! ―Alas, for those who cry for aid from such in those days! Still there is One whose heart never changes, wherever He may be, or whatever He may be engaged in. The One who, when His hour had come for sorrow, and their hour had come for malice, could not refrain from an act of pitying mercy, even to an adversary, that could repair the ill-timed zeal of His follower in cutting off a man’s ear, by asking for a sufferance of power to heal the wound. Can anyone doubt for a single moment that it is the voice of One we know, who puts in the saving clause about the wheat and the barley, and even spares the oil and the wine? It is useless to say that the voice has no name attached to it. Many a sheep knows His voice better than it could define His name. And it is Himself that has said it as to His voice. There are some things that He says and does that characterize Him in an unmistakable way. Take John 20:15¹⁵Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. (John 20:15). There is a woman weeping because she cannot find her Lord. She meets a Man who says, “Why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” She thinks it is the gardener, but directly He says, “Mary,” she hears His voice; as He says, “My sheep hear My voice.” “He calleth His own sheep by name.” Take another case, John 21:5: “Children, have you anything to eat?” says One on the shore. “No,” they reply. “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find,” is the rejoinder. “It is the Lord,” says John. And so this voice, which is heard in respect to the dire scarcity, must find its expression in providing a meal, if it is only one. Oh, Bread of Life, that came down from heaven, that a man might eat thereof and not die, cause men to hear Thy voice now, and live! Let them not turn from the feast now spread through grace.

The Fourth Seal

Increasing in intensity as these judgments proceed, we come to the fourth and last of the series of what may be called providential judgments; that is, such judgments as might occur while God is dealing in grace with the world, and calls forth, or keeps in restraint, such measures of prosperity or the reverse, as His good providence sees fit and suitable in the government of this present evil world. Up to the present conquest, bloody war and famine have done their desolating work, and a yet sorer blow falls on the earth, that desired not, nor cared to continue in, the goodness of God. The sword, hunger, pestilence, and wild beasts let loose, do their fearsome work on a fourth part of the earth. Presently we shall hear of a third of the earth, and afterward of the earth as a whole; for up to the end it is in the nature of the judgments to increase in magnitude. All the terrors of this fourth seal are foretold as following the pestilence of the third seal. In Ezekiel it runs thus: “When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you; and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread; and I will send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee: I the Lord have spoken it” (Ezek. 5:16, 17¹⁶When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread: ¹⁷So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it. (Ezekiel 5:16‑17)). Again: “When I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast” (Ezek. 14:21²¹For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? (Ezekiel 14:21)).

But all these judgments, sore as they are, are only preparatory—anticipative—intended to awaken attention—to clear the way for further action. God’s thoughts are upon His people, and it is for their sakes, and to bring about their blessing, in connection with Christ’s glory, that all judgment is designed. God has no pleasure in the death of a sinner: judgment is His strange work; He delights in showing mercy, and His great controversy with man in every age has been, that man will not be blessed after God’s desire. Man wants his own way, and nothing else. To do as he likes, to have the earth for his own possession. It was for this the Jews and Gentiles joined hands in crucifying the Son of the Blessed. “This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours.” Nothing can cure this, for Satan pulls the strings of the rebel heart. Seals, Trumpets, Vials, Lake of Fire, must run their course ere the rightful Heir comes to His own.

Why is it that man, ordinarily so keen after his own interests, so alive in a general way to what is to his advantage, so anxious to lay up for what he is pleased to call his future, is yet so blind on such a momentous future as Scripture lays before us? Is there any way of rendering a reason for what appears to the child of God such incredible folly? Yes, it can be accounted for; but the reason can only be found in the Word of God, which lays bare the hidden springs of man’s being. Men, we are told (Eph. 4:18¹⁸Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Ephesians 4:18)), “walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them.” Now, mark the very serious condition of people we meet with every day: empty, dark, alienated, ignorant. Satan has effected this ruin. God has devised a remedy, Christ has perfected it, the Holy Ghost testifies to it. What, then, is needful to set this beneficent provision in operation? Nothing, as far as the creature is concerned, but to bow to the authority of God’s Holy Word. A soul that bows to the authority of that precious volume, will find there (all ready for him), redemption, forgiveness, riches of grace (Eph. 1:7⁷In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)). Instead of being empty, he shall be filled unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13¹³Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)). Instead of being dark, the eyes of his understanding shall be enlightened (Eph. 1:18¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18)). Instead of remaining in alienation, he shall be made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13¹³But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)). Instead of being ignorant, he shall know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge (Eph. 3:19¹⁹And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)).

The Fifth Seal

What satisfaction to find that the execution of judgment is stayed under this seal! And yet the voice of judgment is heard. But this time it is the cry for vengeance against the earth-dwellers, for blood which they have shed. No cry of this kind could come from any one soul between Pentecost and the rapture. But this latter event has already taken place, as we have seen, and the representatives of those who have received the grace of God have been seen, robed and crowned, in the presence of God and the Lamb. This cry is the first that has reached us from the people beloved for the fathers’ sakes. Hence the Altar, which is named for the purpose of characterizing those whose cry is heard. We have not yet come to the Temple; when we do, we shall hear of the Golden Altar, for that is in the House; this one would be outside the House. We shall get it in Matt. 23:35: “So that all righteous blood shed upon the earth should come upon you, from the blood of righteous Abel, to the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” The souls of these now cry for vengeance. What would be wrong in a Christian, is the true and proper utterance of a godly Jew. “How long, O Master, the holy One and true; dost Thou not judge and take vengeance for our blood from them that dwell on the earth?” And here we discover who and what an earth-dweller is: it is one who is dwelling in a place that does not belong to him. The earth belongs to God, and He has given it to Christ for an inheritance, and He will share His inheritance with His earthly people as soon as He has rooted out the evil-doer. The earth-dweller is the Canaanite who has to be dispossessed by unsparing and uncompromising judgment. No mercy was to be accorded to man, woman, or child, that was found in God’s land. Under Joshua, the people failed to possess; but another day has been appointed, and now the true Joshua will take them into the land.

But a little patience, and all their hopes shall be fulfilled. In the meantime, as their blood was righteous blood, white robes were given to each one, for each one had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which he held. “And it was said to them that they should rest for a little season, until both their fellow-servants and their brethren, that were about to be killed as THEY also had been, shall have been completed.” What an earnest of coming blessing! In possession of the white robe, they could now speak of the “little while,” even as we, according to our hope, can wait our “little while,” having the Morning Star.

With what marvelous tact and skill does the Spirit of God introduce this scene to our notice! What a variety of incidental lights are thrown in, all illuminating some special truth that it will be well for us to know! First, we learn that martyrs of Israel are in full remembrance, and that they are keeping their Lord’s patience. We must not interpret, “How long, O Lord?” as indicating impatience. It is Israel’s equivalent for our church cry, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” Again, we are shown “an earnest” given in the white robe. To us the Spirit is the earnest of the inheritance. Then, again, they are to wait till some others were to be treated as they had been treated, and that such were their fellow-servants—their brethren. This informs us of what is coming to pass. We are brought by such an allusion to understand that many dear saints of Israel will seal their testimony with their blood. But, above all, what a tale it tells us Of our loving God, who stops the cataract of judgment, in order that He may have the opportunity of expressing His affectionate solicitude for His own, His thoughtful consideration for their disembodied condition, and the gratification He would afford them in giving them a white robe—earnest of their future body!

The Sixth Seal

Now we have judgment again, but on quite a different scale to anything that has preceded it. The super natural begins. The powers of the world to come, suspended while Israel’s history was suspended, now come into play—just as at the Crucifixion: the earth was shaken, the rocks were rent the tombs were opened, a supernatural darkness had rested over the whole land; so, something, entirely different from all that has been seen or known upon the earth from that time, now commences. It may be physical, of moral, or both. Any way, it strikes terror upon every soul of man upon earth, from the king on the throne down through every rank of society, to the bondslave. In terror they betake themselves to mountains and caverns. In vain. There is no hiding place from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne; no shelter from the wrath of the Lamb. Terrified, and utterly cowed by this new departure, so entirely different from every known experience, they think that the great day of His wrath has come. Vain thought! This is only the first great, terrible awakening to the dread reality of the Crisis week, the unfulfilled seven years of Daniel’s prophecy.

Oh, that men would be wise in time! Oh, that they would read and ponder the second Psalm, and, ere it is too late, take to heart the last three verses! for the day is near at hand. In the scripture just referred to, God says to the chosen nation, “Be wise, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges.” In Daniel He says, that at the time of the end, “None of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand.” While the rapture has not yet taken place, although it is expected daily, it is yet the day of grace, the accepted time, the day of salvation. Just as it was said to the crucified malefactor, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise,” so the same could be said to any one NOW “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven.” They that are alive shall be caught up with those that sleep through Jesus (the rapture).

These wonders set forth may be physical, or moral, or both. Morally, we learn that a great convulsion overturns all existing governments. The heavenly ordered system changes its character entirely. Neither sun, moon, nor stars fulfill their accustomed and beneficent functions, according to that word: “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heaven”; and the reason is, “That what is not shaken may remain” (Heb. 12:26²⁶Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (Hebrews 12:26)). It is in the moral aspect of all these details that believers now in these last days get the blessing of them. No one is entitled to say, however divinely sure he may be that he is exempt from these judgments, “They do not concern me.” It is perfectly true that the believer in Jesus, being one with Christ by the Holy Ghost, shall not come into judgment. Grace has rescued him by redemption through the blood of Christ. He shall be at rest with Christ in heaven before any one of these things begins. But the apostle draws this weighty conclusion, “Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace [or let us be thankful], whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for our God [also] is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28, 29²⁸Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: ²⁹For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28‑29)). God has, in infinite grace, drawn the veil from the future, and revealed to our wondering eyes the blessings and the judgments of the day of the Lord. If we take the joy of the blessings only, and fail to be solemnized by the judgments also, we lose that ballast in divine things so essential to our spiritual well-being. We have, through the mercy of our God, an infallible word of truth, compared to a sharp sword with two edges. It is well to keep this clearly in mind in reference to every portion of the Word.

Arrest of Judgment While the Servants of God Are Sealed in Their Foreheads

We have arrived at a very distinct break in the prophetic record, marked by the usual words for indicating such a break: “After these things.” We have had only six seals opened, and we have much to be presented before the seventh seal is broken. Four angels now enter on the scene. They take their stand on the four quarters of the earth, so that all power of hindrance shall be quelled while God fulfills His wondrous purpose. We know that, in Scripture, “to blow” upon anything is to hinder and prevent it. We therefore understand that no influence from east, west, north, or south, can be allowed to stop what God is now about to have done. The fact that angels are now at work, as God’s ministers, has a very significant bearing on what is passing in God’s mind at this time. Another angel—not one of the four—makes his appearance, ascending from the sun-rising.

Ezekiel was brought to the East gate to see the glory of the God of Israel come from the way of the East (Ezek. 43:2²And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)). The Star, directing the kings to worship the newborn Jesus, was seen in the East (Matt. 2:9⁹When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. (Matthew 2:9)). So that Israel is very distinctly in the mind of God to bring about the blessing and deliverance which He had promised, and Himself looked forward to, all along their history on the earth. It would be a great error to suppose that blessing is a thing only got with great difficulty from God. The earnest, longing, loving desire has been to bless abundantly: “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it”; but man has always opposed, hindered, perverted, thwarted. So that now seeing that God will at all costs glorify His Son, and carry out His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, there is no remedy; He must clear the earth, as once He did by the Flood, and gratify His quality of mercy in exceptional ways, as in the instance we are now considering. It is not vindictive, although it is retributive action. The holiness, righteousness, and truth must be met, but He will be God, and restrain wrath while He puts His seal on His own, that He may preserve them and keep them alive.

Let us meditate a little on the sealing that takes place here, and those who are the subjects of it. In the first place we hear of no sealing of those who came up out of the great tribulation. They were Gentiles, they had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Their deliverance is assured. The tribulation they came out of is not that terrible tribulation referred to by the Lord in Matt. 24:21²¹For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21). That is the time of Jacob’s trouble during the last half-week under the tyranny of the beast and false prophet. These sealed ones, therefore, represent God’s purpose accurately defined by 12 x 12 x 1000, to preserve His servants through the scenes yet to take place. In Rev. 9:5,⁵And 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 he striketh a man. (Revelation 9:5) the locusts can only hurt the men not having the seal of God on their foreheads, but in Rev. 14 we get a company, just as accurately defined as before, standing on Mount Sion, in company with the Lamb; only now His Father’s name is on their foreheads. They are redeemed from the earth and from among men, and are without guile and free from blame before the throne of God, as we have seen the Gentile multitude were. The Lamb feeds the latter and tends them, while the former follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. The conclusion we are led to therefore, is, that a defined number of Jews and an undefined number of Gentiles are preserved through the Crisis week, but the Gentiles are through their trouble first, and the Jew is sealed to pass through his trouble later on. God seals them, but, like the Gentiles, it is the Lamb to whom they owe their deliverance, with the Father’s mark on them in addition.

Another remark may be made in respect to the company in Rev. 7 and the company in Rev. 14. In the former, all the tribes are named, whereas in the latter none of the tribes are named. It will be borne in mind by the reader that two tribes only pass through the tribulation, the ten being dealt with in the wilderness.

The Sealing of the Tribes of the Children of Israel

If we look at the list before us from a divine point of view (which really is the only intelligent view to take of any prophecy) we shall find it full of deep interest. God has set His heart upon having a people of whom He can say, “MY people.” “And they shall be MINE in the day when I make up MY JEWELS.” Do we know anything of this feeling? Have we ever known the intense joy, above all joys, in saying, when alone with our Lord Jesus “MY BELOVED IS MINE, and I am His”? Let us approach with these thoughts, remembering that we have learned what Israel have not—that God is LOVE. We must remember that it is the servants of God who are thus sealed in their foreheads. Five times in Scripture Moses is called the servant of God, and many times the servant of Jehovah; but here it is “the servants of God.” Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant (Christ as a Son; whose house are we). Now these servants are marked out beforehand (Christ was: “Him hath God the Father sealed”), and we shall see them after judgment has done its separating work. In the Rev. 22:3,³And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Revelation 22:3) we shall hear of them thus: “And His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” And this in connection with the Throne of God and the Lamb, the very place from whence these visions are being portrayed. We shall hear of them again during the Visions, in connection with the TEMPLE, but what we are now considering is in connection with the THRONE, and it is most important to keep these things distinct. It is the mingling of them that has rendered this blessed Book so unintelligible to many.

This list appears to differ from every other list of the tribes given in Scripture, by the absence of Dan. The reason is a striking one. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, were husbands and wives in God’s sight. Hagar and bondage were not God’s ordinance, but the work of the flesh; Sarah was barren. Rebecca was barren, too. But Isaac intreated the Lord, and the Lord heard. Hence, “In Isaac shall Thy seed be called, which is Christ.” It is in Isaac that we (the Church) are Abraham’s seed. But Rachel also was barren, and she asked not God, but followed the example of her grandmother, Sarah. Now, as Ishmael was the result in Sarah’s case, so was Dan in the case of Rachel. God cannot make up His jewels after this fashion and so Dan is left out of this list, and the firstborn of Joseph takes his place. Rachel might well call his name Dan (God hath judged me), and here we find the truth of it. Dan is, however, not disinherited, as we may see in Ezekiel (48:2).

And where in Scripture do we ever find that God forgets or treats lightly anything that He has instituted? Man forgets, and ever justifies himself concerning the most solemn derelictions of duty, as though man could set up a standard in God’s presence! But the Lord plainly tells them that if Moses allowed them to write a bill of divorce, it was in view of their hard-heartedness; but in the beginning it was not so. All that God does is with a view to His own glory in Christ, and in His infinite wisdom and goodness He makes the creature a participator in His goodness in every act that He sets in motion, so that man’s highest wisdom, even were it confined only to his own welfare, is in a willing obedience to God’s precepts. And we may be perfectly sure that the end will prove this to be the case in every instance. God may, and very often does, allow things to go on unchecked; and the inference may be drawn that God tacitly allows what He does not directly reprove. But it is not so, There is no yea and nay in God; His word endureth forever.

The White-Robed Multitude

“The Jew first; and also the Gentile.” We have just seen the Israel of God sealed, and put by till presently.

We have now to do with a great multitude; not numbered with precision, but so vast as to be beyond the power of man to number. And they are seen standing in the presence of the throne, and in the presence of the Lamb. Palms are in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.” Then all the angels from their place outside the throne, living creatures, and elders, fall down and worship God, and, giving their Amen, ascribe blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, might, to our God forever and ever. And again they add, Amen. Remark that the seven-fold blessing comes from the angels only. Remark that it is concerning the white-robed multitude only, for they are separated off from the sealed company by a prophetic stop: “After these things.” Remark, too that they ascribe salvation to God and the Lamb, according to Rom. 10:13: “For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” These must have done so, for it is their keynote before the throne. But there is much more to be remarked, for an elder puts two leading questions to John: Who are these white-robed ones? Where did they come from? John replies with a two-fold force, “My lord, THOU knowest.” It is as though he said in his prophet capacity, “My lord, you are one of the twenty-four who represent those having the mind of Christ. It is within your province now to speak of certain things; I was directed to write to Sardis and Laodicea about white robes. My lord, THOU knowest.”

And he said unto me, “These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Remark the utterance of those who were in Rev. 1:6: “To Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His own blood.” This is much more than robes. The one was the fitness for His eye, but the other was the fitness for His heart. A wedding garment might be needful for a guest. The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is in-wrought with gold and broidery (Ps. 45:13). But these are very precious, “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.” Sealed Israel are the servants of God; so are these. He that sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. No more hunger, no more thirst. No more shall the sun smite them, nor the burning heat. Isaiah 49 shall apply to them, only that the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them, and shall lead them to fountains of waters of life; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. Oh, sweet vision by anticipation! By anticipation, for the end is not yet. It is as though God said: “I will not leave you in suspense while I unfold My judgments. I will not leave you without hope while trumpets sound, and vials are poured out. I have promised you a blessing if you read My book, and keep (in your heart) the things that are written therein; and I will stop before My last seal is opened, and gladden you with the assurance that I will not make a full end. You saw the jewels from the breastplate; you saw the jeweled rainbow; and you shall see that, in the midst of My strange work, I am still God, whose name is Love.”

The Seventh Seal

“And when He opened the seventh seal there was silence in the heaven about half-an-hour.” Could anything be presented to us more impressive than this measured and defined cessation of all utterance in “the boundless realms of joy”? But these are moments in the history of God’s earth only surpassed by that more wonderful than all other wonderful events indicated by the inquiry of the Gentiles to see Jesus (John 12:23²³And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. (John 12:23)). This seal is remarkable as that which discloses the veritable judgments under the trumpets, some of deepest woe, and the outpouring of the vials of God’s wrath. Up to the present all has been preliminary and preparatory. It was only under the fifth seal that men became thoroughly alarmed and uproused to what was taking place; so deadening to the moral senses is sin. And even now, when the seven angels which stand before God are ranged in order, and the trumpets are given to them, God’s lovingkindness makes another gracious provision for His own. Another angel (“Is it Jesus?”) came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him (“It must be!”) that He might give [efficacy] to the prayers of all saints at the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints, out of the hand of the angel before God. Can we fail to recognize Him who intervenes for His people, to give efficacy to their prayers, in contrast to that altar whose fire is to be the signal for wrath on the earth? For we must remember that we shall hear no more of the Lamb until the second great division of God’s dealings is opened to us in the twelfth chapter. Then we shall hear of Him more frequently than before. But for the completion of this first division, angelic agency only is at work; and, hence, if we hear the voice of the Son of God (for we know His voice), it will be as an angel; not indeed, as one of those to whom judgment is committed, but again as intervening and clothed with divine attributes in order that we may make no mistake.

On casting the fire of the altar to the earth, we may mark the severity of the effects by the symbols accompanying—thunderings, lightnings, voices, and an earthquake. When we come to the second great division of the Book, we shall find the above symbols intensified by the addition of hail; and of the latter it may be remarked that our idea of hail does not convey to us an adequate idea. Stones weighing a talent (125 lbs.) are designated. And so with the other symbols. They are of a character to strike terror and dismay into the most hardened (see Joshua 10:11¹¹And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. (Joshua 10:11)).

“And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves that they might sound with their trumpets.” All is done with that wondrous deliberation which marks all the ways of our God. No haste, no confusion; all is marked and prepared for the day and hour. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without divine cognition. Every hair of the heads of His saints is numbered.

Note the use of the word “altar” in this section. It occurs three times. The second time it is called the “golden altar.” This fact leads to the consideration that on the other two occasions of the use of the word “altar,” reference is made to the “brazen altar.” The brazen altar was for sacrifice, and the fire on it was perpetual; the golden altar was for incense only. The censer which was kept on the golden altar when not in use was for burning the fragrant ingredients before the Lord. If, then, the angel was ministering at the two altars, this thought would be conveyed to a spiritual mind, viz., that while on the one hand the prayers of the suffering saints ascended to God in the sweet fragrance of One who loved them, on the other hand, the wrath of God fell upon the enemies of Christ after He Himself had endured the wrath due to sin.

The First Trumpet

In looking at the seals, we found that the first four formed a group; we shall find it the same under the trumpets. We found the fifth seal of a more striking and intense action; we shall have to remark the same thing of the fifth trumpet. Moreover, we shall find a distinctive attribute of woe attached to each of the last three trumpets. Again, connected with the sixth seal we got the comfort and assurance that there was One behind the scenes who was looking with satisfaction, not at the judgments, but at their completion, when He should have a beloved and purified people as the precious residuum of the crucible. We shall have the same satisfaction accompanying the sixth trumpet. Then we found the last seal, while it made provision for the saints, opened the avenue for the second series of judgments. We shall note correspondingly that the last trumpet closes the first great division of the Book, opening the way for the introduction of the last seven plagues, which fill up the measure of God’s wrath, and leave the earth empty for God to re-people it after His own heart.

But while there is similarity of order in the arrangement, there is not the smallest identity in detail. The seals were preparatory and awakening: now definitive and deadly punishment is inflicted. Hail, fire, blood, are symbolical terms for different forms of judgment, and that of a character of which men have had no previous experience, and therefore they cannot be described or explained except in general terms. But as the prophet Joel says, “I will give wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth below; blood, fire, and vapor of smoke.” These terms are all that can be given, seeing we have no method of measuring them any more than we have the untold joys of heaven. Sufficient is said, however, to show that they are appalling and terrific. The fact that hailstones can fall weighing a talent (125 lbs.), and causing men to blaspheme God, is quite enough to give a slight insight of the terrors of those days. Under the fourth seal we saw power given to death and Hades over a fourth of the earth. Now these burn up a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all the grass. What a desolation! But all is necessary, for God is going to bring a third part of His people through the fire (Zech. 13:8, 9⁸And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. ⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:8‑9)), and blessing has its counterpart in judgment.

It is important to bear in mind that the judgments inflicted under the trumpets and the vials are a direct display of the divine displeasure from heaven to earth. Not so the seals. The seals, as they are opened, simply call into existence certain things by the word “come.” “Let famine come to pass,” etc. But the trumpets and vials, so to speak, are new revelations of wrath from above—things that men have had no previous experience of, as they have had of war, famine, etc. The action, too, is no longer “come,” but rather “go.” “Cast upon the earth,” under this trumpet; “Cast into the sea,” under the next; “Fell from heaven,” under the third; “The heavenly bodies themselves,” under the fourth; “Fall from heaven unto the earth,” under the fifth. Then, again, all the vials are “poured out”; precisely the same word always used in the Scriptures of the Holy Ghost being poured forth. In fact, under the seals, even the mandates issue from heaven. All of this is in entire accord with the keynote struck in Rom. 1:18: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” It is not now from earth; that is why men think God takes no notice. But it was revealed from heaven coincidently with the announcement of the glad tidings, BUT NOT EXECUTED TILL THE GOSPEL ANNOUNCEMENT IS ENDED. The righteousness of God is revealed on the principle of faith to whomsoever will believe it; while the sword of divine justice hangs over men’s heads in the heavens! The criminal has been tried, convicted, and sentenced; nothing more remains but the scaffold and the executioner. Nothing, do we say? Yes, NOTHING. Men, alas! refuse the righteousness of God, else they would exchange the scaffold for a throne! One look at the brazen serpent saved a dying Israelite. One look to Christ saves a perishing sinner.

The Second Trumpet

He who would despise human wisdom would do a very foolish thing; but he who would employ it to interpret the things of God would be simply lading himself with thick clay (Hab. 2:6⁶Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! (Habakkuk 2:6)). He would be “taking up a load of pledges” with which he could never substantiate God’s truth. God’s truth is written for the way-faring man; a fool he may be, but he shall not err therein: only he must be found in “the way” —as Eliezer says: “I being in THE WAY, the Lord led me” (Gen. 24:27²⁷And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. (Genesis 24:27)). This way is called “the way of holiness” (Isa. 35:8⁸And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. (Isaiah 35:8)). May the Spirit of Truth, that proceedeth from the Father, lead us in this way.

The Holy Scriptures are the dictionaries of the Spirit of God, who invariably uses the similitudes, sometimes the exact language, He has used before. Purposely so. The Lord answers those who thought they could entangle “The Resurrection” with questions about the resurrection, with the crushing reply, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” How could they know aught, if they were ignorant of God’s Word and God’s Spirit?

God does not give a Revelation of Jesus Christ for Him to show to His servants, for them to find, when they have got it, that a book of riddles for the curious has been put into their hands! Not so, O man of God. The Holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation (the whole thing, root and branch), through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Now the second angel has sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. What mountain? Why burn with fire?

If there is one thought that dominates in the heart of God it is His Christ. For Him has a body been prepared; for Him has an inheritance been got ready. But there has been a deadly foe to both, and it is this deadly, unscrupulous, daring, insidious foe, that has so prominent a place in God’s mind all through these judgments. As soon as the Flood was over, and the earth began to be re-peopled, the great grandson of Noah, Nimrod, founded Babel. From that place, every phase of diabolical craft has been promulgated; from there, everything false, and of the nature of confusion, in regard to man’s relation to God as His creature, has its origin; whether as to government or as to religion. Forced eventually out of Babylon, it seems to have made its headquarters at Pergamos, and from thence, when the time was ripe, was transfused into the Roman Government and Church. This enormous power of evil has exercised its devastating influences over the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God; sometimes severally, and at others collectively. We must therefore be prepared to hear a very great deal about Babylon in some shape or form. Men have been accustomed to link Babylon only with its present most glaring feature, Popery. This blinds their eyes. The corrupting power of Babylon is upon everything ordered of God, and its special characteristic is the secrecy with which it works. It is the extension of its ramifications now, in every direction, in secret societies, spirit-rapping, and the like, that blinds man to what is at work; while to the eye of God, before which nothing is hid, it brings, what man will find out to be a sudden destruction. It is not within the scope of this exposition to make copious quotations from Scripture. To understand something of God’s mind about Babylon, the 51St chapter of Jeremiah must be read from beginning to end, and it will not be surprising that it is the subject of the vengeance of the Lord: “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.” What wonder that the third part of the creatures that were in the sea, and had life, died? The wonder is that anything lived under its withering, blasting influences. The way Babylon appears to have acted has been to undermine and destroy conscience. Just as all the sensibility of the touch would be destroyed if the flesh were seared with a red-hot iron, so does Babylonian influence act upon the conscience. “The world” is saturated with Babylonianism.

The Third Trumpet

As we follow the mind of our God, we learn that the most systematic arrangement exists throughout the whole of His dealings. We have seen, under the sound of the last trumpet, He has foreshadowed the total rout and overthrow of Confusion, as to its source on earth. We may therefore expect Him next to foreshadow His dealings with the power that made Babel what it was, for man is not an independent agent, his mainspring is either God or Satan. Under the second trumpet we had a great mountain, and there is not much discernment needed to look for it on earth. The same simplicity will lead our eyes upward to see a great star fall from heaven, and as both are great, they at least in that point suit each other. But it is burning as a lamp! Did it lend its fictitious light to the powers of darkness? This occult, secret, mysterious influence only known to initiates, who had their baptisms, and were even styled the “regenerate?” Is this what disseminated Buddhism, and now puts it forth as Theosophy? Ah, mystery of evil! We do not know much about thee, but this we know, that a travesty of God’s ways have ever marked thy rebellion: dealings with the sons of men that God created for His glory, and who shall presently people the heavens from whence thou art here foreshadowed as thrust out!

Rivers, and fountains of waters, or springs (faith knows them better as wells of water, springing up unto everlasting life—Rivers proceeding from the throne of God), are here depicted as streams of supply made bitter, even the bitterness of death, by the presence of that which has ever worked as wormwood and gall (see Deut. 29:18,¹⁸Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; (Deuteronomy 29:18) Lam. 3:19,¹⁹Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. (Lamentations 3:19) Amos 5:7⁷Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, (Amos 5:7)), seeming in the first scripture to have been the spirit of the false prophets that prophesied peace—peace—when there was no peace.

Much has been said about the “third part.” But, as ever, the wayfaring man, not having the wisdom of the schools, must, as usual, turn to his Bible, and his Father, for light. He may know next to nothing of geography, least of all the geography of the ancients. He may not know the extent or the boundaries of the Roman Empire, nor which is east and which is west. It may be useful and interesting for him to know them, but suppose he does not know? Is God’s precious Word to come to a standstill for lack of human knowledge? Do we not as a rule look for a material solution where there is none? or miss a moral solution where a most important one exists? “He made known His ways unto Moses, His doings unto the children of Israel.” The Book of Revelation is, as to its present use, for the heart. In the future, and even now to the careless, it is addressed to the conscience; and when it says, “Here is wisdom,” it may perhaps be addressed to the intellect. Let us get something for the heart.

The Lord said unto Gideon, “Go and save Israel.” And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and men were gathered unto him. And the Lord said unto Gideon, “The people are too many, tell the fainthearted to go home.” Twenty-two thousand went home, and ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for thee there.” Three hundred was the result. Now, an arithmetician would not call three hundred the third part of two and twenty thousand. But morally it was so before God. Then Gideon divides his three hundred men into three companies of one hundred each, and gains a great victory.

We see, then, that when dealing with trumpets, God has before now had a third part in His mind.

We have another interesting example of a third part in Isaiah 19:24²⁴In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: (Isaiah 19:24) “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria.” That is to say, Israel with her bitter southern and still more bitter northern foe, shall with them, be like three brothers, for the Lord will say, “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.” Babylon, her other great enemy, destroyed utterly.

The Fourth Trumpet

We have not yet done with Babylon. We have seen under the two previous trumpets the center of Babylon’s operations both in earth and in heaven. Now we have to do with the main instruments by which its power was used to pervert and alienate the mind of man from the worship of God, only true, only wise, only good. “God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.” This was the work of the fourth day. It appropriately comes under His review under the sound of the fourth trumpet. From the earliest period, the Chaldeans used these luminaries as the foundation of a corrupt, spurious religion, calling the sun the king of heaven, the moon the queen of heaven, while the stars were worshipped as lesser deities. This spurious religion was taught to various nations; Baal being the sun-god of the Phoenicians, while to others the sun-god was Chemosh and Moloch. Astarte, the moon-goddess, subsequently became the virgin and child of Mystery—Babylon. And to this day the Sunday and Mo(o)nday attest the continuance of these products of Babel; well called “Confusion” by God, but called by man “The gate of God,” “The tree of life,” “The temple of the universe,” as the cylinders attest, just unearthed as witnesses in view of impending judgment. But let us get out of this exterior testimony into the light of God’s blessed truth; that divine light which can never have its third, or any part smitten, since He who is the Light of the world has been smitten; for life and incorruptibility have been brought to light by the Gospel. In the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah we get “The Oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.” “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; as destruction from El Shaddai [the name God revealed Himself to Abraham by] shall it come. Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt; and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.... And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.... For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land.” Joel says, “The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.” Amos says, “I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.” Compare also Ezekiel’s emblem, Rev. 5:2,²And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Revelation 5:2) for the use of a third part: “A third part burn in the fire; a third part smite with the sword; a third part scatter to the wind.” There is one item well worthy of our consideration as the wonderful transactions of this book pass under our review. We, in this day of God’s providence and grace, are so accustomed to see the whole phenomena of nature work on equal and abiding principles, that we call them fixed laws, as if they could not be departed from. We forget that this fixity is merely in existence in respect to man, and God’s dealings with him. The first chapter of Genesis shows us a state of things established, which in Revelation is, in a great measure, disestablished. We are accustomed to regard the first as natural, and the second as supernatural, and so far we are right; but God can go far beyond this. He can call into being what has not previously existed, and He can dismiss, at His will, that which exists. That which is seen does not take its origin from that which appears (see Heb. 11:3³Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)).

The Three-Fold Woe: Addressed to the Class Called Earth-Dwellers

“And I beheld, and heard an eagle flying in the mid-heaven” (not an angel, as the ordinary version). The eagle is employed to announce these woes, for, as in Job, “She hasteth to the prey,” and “where the slain are, there is she.” The Lord also says that where the carcass is, there shall the eagles be gathered together. An eagle, therefore, appropriately announces these three distinct and several woes in connection (not as to time) with the three remaining trumpets that are about to sound. We saw the first four seals grouped together, and we have now the first four trumpets grouped together. The latter three have a special force and significance, not only in themselves, but by having a special attribute of woe attached to them. But they have still further significance by being specially addressed to a class, called by the distinctive name of “earth-dwellers,” or “those that dwell on the earth.” We have met with them in Rev. 3:10,¹⁰Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10) and chap. 6:10, and shall meet with them six or seven times more. They have been referred to under the seals as those who treat the earth as their own, without reference to God’s rights as Creator; but under the trumpets they represent all,—whether of Israel or the Gentiles—who have been under the intoxicating power of Babylon’s seductions. (See Rev. 17:2²With 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. (Revelation 17:2).) It must not be thought that in this exposition of the Apocalypse too much stress is put upon Babylon. In the book of God’s grace, the New Testament, which is, in respect of the heavenlies, what the covenant with Abram was to the earthlies, is occupied, in its greatest extent, in telling us concerning Him who brought the grace and truth. In each gospel the greatest space is given to telling of that most wondrous act, by which that grace and truth became available, viz., the Cross. Now, the supplement to that book of grace is the Apocalypse, in which the veil is drawn aside, and the hidden source of all the opposition is exposed, and not only exposed, but judged; and not only judged, but the earth made empty—dealt with root and branch, the wicked rooted out with that which made them so; thus the fruit of righteousness displaces it all. And what is it that occupies the greatest space in the Apocalypse? Babylon! Babylon! Men have been lulled to sleep by the fancy that Babylon was exhausted in the abominations of Popery. Popery is indeed the ecclesiastical phase of it, and embraces not only that which puts a pope or a priest between the soul and God, but that which even puts a “minister” in such a position. Access by One Spirit is the only divine mode (John 4:23²³But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23); Eph. 2:18¹⁸For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)). But Babylon has corrupted, not the Church only, but all nations have been deceived by her sorcery. The blood of all prophets and saints was found in her (18:23, 24). Government has been perverted by her (18:3). Israel succumbed to the idolatry brought in by her. Her idolatries were at work in the Roman power which crucified their Messiah, and made them clamor for His death at her hands. They that dwell on the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication (18:2). But strong is the Lord God that judgeth her (18:8).

In connecting the three woes with the last three trumpets, care must be taken not to stop short of the extent of the third woe, otherwise their special force will be lost. The Spirit of God has been careful to give us special indications for our guidance. The first woe is exhausted under the fifth trumpet. It is the pit opened by the Devil, and agonizing tormentors let loose. The second also, diabolic in its nature, lets loose 200,000,000 slaughterers who have power at head and tail, and dispose of the third part of men. The third woe, announced under the seventh trumpet, comes into operation when the Devil is let loose in the earth (12:12), and embraces all his action till shut up (20:1) in the bottomless pit. It will be observed that all woe action is diabolical—first from the pit, next from the power bound at Euphrates (Babylon’s home), and finally by the personal reign of the fiend himself in his Jewish and Gentile vice-gerents. It will be found most useful to observe these woes thus, because it marks off all judgment action into three grand phases, providential, angelic, and diabolical; and shows us that association with Satan not only draws down wrath upon man for sin against God, but that Satan hates and torments the being he has beguiled.

The Fifth Trumpet

We saw, under the third trumpet, a great star, burning as a lamp, fall from heaven. Now we have a star, no longer distinguished by special marks which characterized the wicked power that usurped the place of the Spirit of Truth, but one who is the wicked travesty of Him who is a King and has the key, and whose name is known (though differently) to Jew and Gentile. We shall see, further on, Heaven opened, and the Faithful and True followed by His armies white and pure. He has a name for His earthly saints, it is King of kings, and for all others, heavenly or of the nations, it is Lord of lords.

This fallen star is—as all is under the trumpets—spoken of in the language of mystery and symbol. But in the second division of the Apocalypse we shall have mysteries abolished, and we shall no longer have Satan’s titles in Greek and Hebrew, but in plain Saxon. Here, his character is the Destroyer. There it will be the Accuser, the Adversary. To him is here given the key of the abyss, that fearful region in which the legions of demons are; in which are all the slain of all the famous nations of the earth, depicted in the latter part of the thirty-second chapter of Ezekiel, the receptacle generally of the wicked dead. Consuming judgments, symbolized by smoke, issue from the pit; and special instruments of torture and torment, depicted as locusts, emerge from the smoke, in orderly array, headed by their king. Their power is not, like the locusts of the earth, to consume and destroy the grass, the trees, or other vegetation. Neither is their power to kill men; for in those days people would be only too glad to find a refuge in death from the tormenting agonies of their infernal visitants. Physical death in these awful five months will not respond to any summons, or come of his own accord. Men have courted evil spirits—they here have them to the full. Men loved deceit and fraud; they have in these armies of Satan a sham and counterfeit in every form, except torture. They were like horses, had crowns like gold, faces like men, hair like women, teeth like lions, breastplates like iron. The sound of their wings was like chariots and horses rushing to battle, and yet, as in everything Satanic, they were not what they seemed. The only thing real was the torture and afflicting agony they were able to make all suffer, except such as had God’s seal on their foreheads. This fearful judgment lasts for five months, or one hundred and fifty days, and corresponds to the time the Flood was on the earth (Gen. 8:3³And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. (Genesis 8:3)), and making good the blessed Lord’s words (Luke 17:26²⁶And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26)), As it was in the days of Noah, thus also shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. Pain, torment, torture, agony, are characteristic of this trumpet; Satan’s power from beneath, in contrast with Heaven’s power from above. The one terrible, but speedy and merciful; the other, agony beyond description. Death, desired so eagerly, is reserved for the next trumpet. It is important to remember here, as everywhere else in the Apocalypse, that it is of less importance to us to get the exact physical details of the prophecy. What is needed for us is to get the moral features, and to see that what comes upon others, who have despised God’s grace, would have been our lot, but for the divine actings of that grace, let in divinely, by grace, into our hearts.

The Immense Place and Importance of the Three Woes

It is impossible to attach too much importance to the place these three woes occupy in the Apocalypse, for in them, in threefold testimony of judgment, is re-enacted, first, the Flood; second, Sodom and Gomorrah; and, third, a new and unique judgment, viz., the personal reign of Satan on the earth. The woes are announced in a special way, as we saw on page 36. The period of their duration is carefully marked off, and the succeeding ones as carefully marked off from those preceding. “One woe is past,” a period of unutterable torment corresponding to the period of the Flood. But, whereas that visitation was comparatively painless and merciful, as insensibility and death speedily followed with those overtaken, this agonizing and diabolical torture gets no cessation or relief from death. Now, the two following woes (Ezek. 16:23²³And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;) (Ezekiel 16:23)) have a special bearing upon Israel, and the whole of that chapter must be read very carefully if God’s indictment there, and the execution of His judgment here, is to be grasped. God has been wantonly insulted by the object of His pity, and tender, loving compassion and affection. His mercies and gifts, extravagant in their bounty, beauty, and costliness, have been used as weapons of insult and provocations to jealousy. Is it a wonder that His anger should burn like fire? It cannot be that His long-suffering should endure forever. His mercy can, and does, and will; but long-suffering supposes an end, and the end is reached. His mercy shall be abundantly declared (in parenthesis), but judgment must vindicate His Holy Name. The two succeeding woes will be treated of, each in its proper place. The former of them has to do with death, inflicted to an extent unparalleled in the world’s history, and its termination is announced (after a long parenthesis at Rev. 11:14¹⁴The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. (Revelation 11:14)); and then, (after another parenthesis), the third and last woe begins; the woe par excellence of the series—for it is no less than the personal reign of Satan on the earth, beginning at Rev. 12:12,¹²Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12) and continuing, with certain parenthetical episodes, to Rev. 20:1,¹And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (Revelation 20:1) when Satan is made prisoner, and shut up during the Millennial era. It is during this last woe that the visions of Daniel coalesce with the Apocalyptic narration, and the thrones that he saw without sitters on them, are, in Rev. 20:4⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4) seen with their lawful occupants occupying them. It was announced under the seventh trumpet that the mystery of God should have its completion. This is accomplished under the last woe by the pouring out of the seven golden bowls, full of the fury of God, who lives to the ages of ages. After the full completion of the last woe, referred to above, as indicated in Rev. 20:1,¹And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (Revelation 20:1) there is no difficulty whatever as to interpretation. The remainder flows on as a descriptive narrative till the close, when Jesus, our own most gracious, loving Lord, announces Himself in His familiar, homelike accents, and the Spirit and the Bride respond thereto. It may be remarked of the first and second woes, taking place under the fifth and sixth trumpets respectively, that the first appears to have in view the Jew, while the second indicates the Gentile. The result of each fearful judgment appears to lead to the open avowal of undisguised apostasy. That the first is the Jew is evidenced by the fact that the torment falls on the men not having the seal of God in their foreheads. In the second there is no question of any sealing. Of the apostasy of those who escape slaughter there can be no doubt, for they repent not, but are found worshipping demons, and guilty of every foul crime. When we come to the third woe, which is really the reign of Satan on the earth, we shall find the apostasy of the Jew, that is, the rejection of Messiah, and the apostasy of the Gentile, that is, the rejection of the Father and the Son, headed up under Antichrist, the center of all religious wickedness, as the first beast is of all civil or secular wickedness. Each beast plays into the hands of the other, and the devil maintains them both. Thus there is a trinity of evil maintaining a united apostasy in man, who contends that the earth is his own. The same principle is at work at the close as was manifest at an earlier stage, viz., Get rid of the Heir, and the inheritance is ours. The lake of fire will be the solemn and fearful answer to this confederacy of evil.

The Sixth Trumpet

We saw under the seventh seal an angel standing at the golden altar, for the twofold purpose of offering the prayers of saints, and of casting the fire of it, in judgment, to the earth. A voice from the four horns (one voice with the altar itself), is heard telling the sixth angel that had the trumpet, to let loose four angels that were bound at the great river Euphrates. 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 hour, the day, the month, the year. The week is significantly omitted. We get “your hour,” “the day” of vengeance, “five months” locust torment “year of visitation”; but “week” seems to be reserved for testimony before God. The disciples came together to remember and “show forth” the Lord’s death on the first day of the week. The seventy weeks of Daniel were measured out to bring in blessings, not judgment. It was man, as usual, turned the blessing into judgment. The function of the four angels is to kill the third part of men, with an army of cavalry numbering 200,000,000. Now as to the character of this cavalry. Two things characterize both horse and rider, viz., fire and brimstone. Each has a third symbol placed between the fire and the brimstone. In the case of the horse it is smoke (see 2 Sam. 22:9,⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. (2 Samuel 22:9) and Ps. 18:18, both scriptures being the song of David when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul), and this smoke signifies the fierce wrath of God. As to jacinth on the horseman, it will now be seen why Dan is left out of the list of the sealed. In Jacob’s prophecy of the latter days, Dan comes seventh. In the high priest’s breastplate Dan comes seventh. The gem representing him is a jacinth (see Revised Version). Now hear Jacob’s prophecy concerning him: “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider falleth backward.” And then, as if uttering the cry of the remnant by anticipation, Jacob says, “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord” (Gen. 49:16, 17, 18¹⁶Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. ¹⁸I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. (Genesis 49:16‑18)). But judgment, from mouth or tail (Ps. 139:4), does not change the stubborn heart of man. He repents not. Devil-worship, idol-worship, murder, sorcery, fornication, theft. Babylonian-ism in its various forms here set forth, have more attraction for man than anything that God can give; and judgment, like that on Pharaoh, only hardens his heart still more against the Sovereign Ruler, who is thus fully justified in His judgments (Rom. 3:5, 6⁵But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) ⁶God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? (Romans 3:5‑6)).

The primary cause of Dan not appearing among the sealed tribes will be seen at page 29, where it is shown that false relationship was a bar in his case. God never loses sight of the principles He established at Creation in respect to marriage. The hardness of man’s heart blights every gracious provision, but God established marriage to foreshadow His Son’s crowning glory in the Church. There is a fitness too where dire judgments are being inflicted because of idolatry, to leave unsealed the most idolatrous of the tribes.

The Episode of Testimony. First Aspect, Gentile

We saw a break before the opening of the seventh seal. We see a break before the sounding of the seventh trumpet. It is, as ever, the voice of mercy; so as to satisfy the heart of God, and leave men without excuse. The Lord Jesus, as the mighty angel invested with the symbol of the divine presence (cloud), remembering His covenant with the earth (rainbow), planting one foot on sea, and the other on land, cries with mighty voice (lion), to which the response is, judgment (seven thunders) not to be recorded, for it is mercy told out—the old story (roll) of the blood (open) to all who will hear—if any such can be found. For, says He (and He vouches it by appeal to Him who liveth forever; who made heaven, earth, sea, and all that in them is), There shall be no more delay, but that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God also shall be completed—that is, that all the evil that has been going on so long during the time God has been making known His grace in Christ Jesus, and all the time before that, from Adam downwards, during which His long-suffering in the midst of abounding evil has been a standing marvel to faith, and an occasion for unbelief, as ever, to assume that what had gone on so long, must of necessity go on forever—has here its definitive termination announced. This is very sweet to know, but bitter to realize; but it is ever so. “Thy words were found of me and I did eat them; they are the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:16¹⁶Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)), but “stripes that wound cleanse away evil, searching all the innermost parts of the belly” (Prov. 20:30³⁰The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly. (Proverbs 20:30)). It is joy and sweetness to have any testimony of God to set forth, but it is sorrowful and bitter to find the servant of Christ is unto death in them that perish. And, alas! this is the nature and the effect of Apocalyptic testimony. John had before testified—here called prophecy, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is not the foretelling of the future, but the true place of Jesus in that future. We know nothing of time without the means of measuring it; so we know nothing of past, present, or future, without the Spirit’s testimony to Jesus in it. And remark how the last sentence should be read: “Thou must prophesy again concerning peoples, nations, and tongues, and many kings”; for as has been just remarked, the period of the prophecies of Daniel are now about to fall into the current of the prophetic record; and the events of the last half of the week to find their occurrence and fulfillment. We shall, in confirmation of this, have the first allusion to “the beast” in the next episode.

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 and head of such Empire being an individual would be called “beast” also. The term “beast” is used as indicating a power or a being totally devoid of conscience, and therefore amenable, without compunction of any kind, to Satanic influence. Man falls under the cruel power of this scourge.

The Episode of Testimony. Second Aspect, Jewish

“There was given me a reed like a rod,” that is, a measuring rod. The seer is bidden to estimate something more important than the first aspect just presented: he is to consider the temple of God and the altar, where prayer was presented by the worshippers. A full complement of service, but that only which was in spirit and in truth. Nothing external, like profession; all that was under Gentile domination during Daniel’s half week, 42 months, because judgment was going on. But God never did leave Himself without witness, and therefore two witnesses shall testify for Him 1260 days; His witnesses and Gentile action cannot be put on the same level. His witnesses will be clothed in sackcloth, for it is a time of mourning and woe. These are the two sons of oil (Zech. 4:14¹⁴Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:14)) that stand by the Lord of the whole earth; that is, they maintain His rights in its entirety, universally. They are unapproachable. They cannot be put down. They are maintained by God’s judgment (fire). If any man hurt them, he will be killed by his own action. They have power to shut heaven (as Elias did), or to turn water to blood, or call forth plagues (as Moses did). In fact, they have absolute power in their testimony during the 1260 days. But at the expiration of that time a new power comes into play, which, as far as the Apocalypse is concerned, we have not heard of as yet. The BEAST that is coming up out of the abyss (bottomless pit), shall make war—conquer—kill. Now that allusion has been made to the beast, we know that Daniel’s prophecy is in question. This, however, is not the beast’s proper Apocalyptic announcement; it only comes anticipatively and incidentally. It is really a part of the third woe, which has not yet arrived. This is an episode before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and that trumpet will open up the third woe.

The dead bodies of God’s witnesses lie unburied for 31 days in Jerusalem, which here earns for itself the character of Sodom and Egypt, on account of its wickedness. The witnesses become the subject of jeer and scorn, and their death a matter of congratulation to the “earth-dwellers,” who imagine that, after all, they have won the day. But earth-dwellers do not believe in the resurrection and never did—“Say His disciples stole His body from the tomb”! Cremate ours, so that God may not be able to raise it! But after three days and a half the two witnesses go up visibly into heaven, and that in the divine envelopment—a cloud, “and great fear fell upon all that saw it.” All this occurs in Jerusalem. There is a great earthquake; seven thousand men perish; a tenth part of the city falls, and the rest are sufficiently terrified at the results to give glory to the God of heaven. It is tardy, like the confession of Nebuchadnezzar, and is forced out at last, by the battering-ram of judgment.

The Third and Climax Woe. Seventh Trumpet Introducing It, and Giving the Moral Conclusion of God’s Dealings From the Throne

“The second woe is past: behold!” give special heed, “the third woe cometh quickly.” The grand denouement is the folding up and wiping out of man’s iniquity under the god of this age, and the unfolding, at its conclusion, of the righteous ways of the God of heaven and earth, and His true King. The seventh angel sounds his welcome trumpet, and there were great voices, loud and joyous, proclaiming, THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE WORLD OF OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST IS COME, AND HE SHALL REIGN TO THE AGES OF AGES. And the four and twenty elders who sit on their thrones before God, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, WE GIVE THEE THANKS, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, HE WHO IS AND WHO WAS, THAT THOU HAST TAKEN THY GREAT POWER, AND HAST REIGNED. And THE NATIONS HAVE BEEN FULL OF WRATH, AND THY WRATH HAS COME, and THE TIME OF THE DEAD TO BE JUDGED, and TO GIVE THE RECOMPENSE TO THY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS, and TO THE SAINTS, and TO THOSE WHO FEAR THY NAME, SMALL AND GREAT, and TO BRING TO CORRUPTION THOSE THAT CORRUPTED THE EARTH. These seven subjects of worship are enunciated by the elders, who, having the entire mind of Christ here, the living creatures do not appear. And the subjects of worship become the program of the remainder of the book and the second great division of God’s dealings. We shall also observe that from this point, and until the action of the second division is completed, we shall lose sight of the Throne; and that until the nineteenth chapter it will be in view of the Temple and the Ark of the Covenant. The seven angels having the seven vials issue forth from the temple of the tabernacle of witness. All this scene of the action of the third woe is thus laid, because the crowning iniquity that has been committed, has been in the corruption and perversion of all that properly belongs to God as an object of worship. It was gross enough to do this in respect of His rights over the earth, as Creator of all things; but when His rights as Sanctifier, Caller, Redeemer were impugned, falsified, made merchandise of the Father’s house, meant for a house of prayer for all nations, turned into a den of thieves—it was meet that God should be known to be in His holy temple, and that all the earth should be brought to silence before Him. We shall now, therefore, have the satisfaction of seeing, in what follows, how completely His divine power and wisdom vindicate all His trampled rights, in ridding the earth of its foul blots. He makes His precious ways to be appreciated and enjoyed by a prepared and purified people, whose exultation in Him henceforth shall know no bounds.

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Revelation of Jesus Christ

• Preface

• Note

• Announcement of Revelation

• Things That Thou Sawest, The

• Things That Are: The Seven Churches, The

• Commencement of Things Hereafter

• Division 1

• Division 2

• Three Angels, The

• Christ in Person

• Day of God, Described in Parenthesis

• Continuation and Completion of Revelation of Jesus Christ

• Conclusion

• Postscript