Remarks on the Revelation: Part 5

Revelation  •  16 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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It is remarkable that the temple in heaven is only thrice mentioned in the revelation to John previous to the opening of the seventh seal, which is the commencement of sorrow to the earth; the three references are (chap. 3: 12), “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out;” and (chap. 6: 9) under the fifth seal, “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were beheaded,” &c., and (chap 7:15) in his temple shall dwell the innumerable multitude. This seems remarkable, because during the sorrows and woes of the trumpets the temple holds so very prominent a place. Thus first, in chapter viii., immediately after the opening of the seventh seal, an angel stands at the altar which was before the throne with a censer; and, when his work is done, the seven angels begin to sound; secondly, chapter 9, on the sixth angel sounding a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying, &c.; then thirdly, in chapter 11, we have the temple of God (ver. 1), and the temple of God was opened in heaven, &c. (ver. 19); again, fourthly, chapter xiv., as to the harvest and vintage of the earth, we have three angels coming forth severally out of the temple (ver. 15); out of the temple which is in heaven (ver. 17); from the altar (ver. 18); fifthly, chapter xv. 5, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened (ver. 6), another angel comes out of the temple with the plagues, and (ver. 8) the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power, and no man was able to enter into the temple; and, sixthly, from the same place, chapter 16, a great voice proclaims it is done. (Ver. 17.)
No one reading these contexts can doubt that one of the objects, in the prominent place given therein to the temple, is to identify the actions with the divine glory, and to show that they are more than the actions of God simply as Lord God Almighty upon the throne; though that throne is, in these passages, shown to be in the temple. They are the actions of God, as God, in the Divine glory, and showing Himself thus to be the object of worship, though still, through His emissaries, the Over-ruler of all things likewise. Till the close of chapter 7, the Lamb is upon the throne; and so far the throne, as the seat of the government of one whose glory was, through grace, then fully to be known, stands without mention of the temple, and He that is there is seen as the door of everything; but no sooner is the innumerable multitude from among all nations, &c., brought to be in the temple than the throne seems hidden in it, and the actions which follow are seen only in connection with the emissaries of the throne. And this is just as one would have supposed; for every member of the heavenly calling has full access to God, and they are the objects of the former portion; the 144,000 from Israel are the objects of divine regard during the latter parts, and their standing and privileges are different and lower, and God's dealings to them more intermediate, through angels; and the definite action not openly presented and distinctly described as to us, but set forth in figure and symbols and parables. On this account I think that it is likely that while up to chapter 12 all has been literal and no symbol used, henceforth, onward, till the partakers of the heavenly calling again become involved as the object of action, the description may run in symbol altogether.
In approaching now to the consideration of the trumpets, I would notice one or two general principles connected with the study of truth: our power of understanding scripture consists in the mind and Spirit of Christ, which we, as sons of God, have. The new creation in us has the mind of God, and to it the Spirit, searching all things, yea, the deep things of God, communicates, as He will. Nevertheless it is the written word wherein these deep things are found. This I believe to be of great importance, as showing the hindrance which knowledge (as men count it), gained by observation of present circumstances and experience, the study of history or works of man, may be—if not all tested by accordance with the written word. For instance, in approaching the subject of the seven trumpets, we come with heads full of notions about trumpets, derived partly from the modern every-day use of them, partly from the study of profane history, and it may be partly from books of the customs and manners of oriental nations. Now just so far as these thoughts are different from the thoughts which would be formed in the mind of any simple child of God by the Spirit, in passing through His own mention of trumpets in the written word, just so far, I say, should we come to the subject with a false medium of communication. I would it were more our habit than it is, to trace out with patience and humility the Holy Ghost's use of words and things ere pronouncing what we believe to be the mind of the Lord on any point. To my own mind, in nature there is nothing more in a trumpet than the idea of “a suitable means of drawing public attention in concourses of people,” —it might thus lead me in thought to warfare, or the field of battle, or the presence of an earthly monarch; but so habituated am I to the sound of it in mere daily life, that these things would be rather the results of thought upon the subject than first impressions; and certainly the highest to which thought in nature would lead me. Par otherwise are the thoughts awakened by “the trumpet” to the mind which comes fresh from the study of the word.
The first trumpet was divine, announcing the presence of divine Majesty. To the holy priesthood the trumpet was given in Israel as an ordinance of the Lord, and none, either in the camp or the court, blew it but the priests;1 for it was a call to God. The day of the blowing of trumpets ushered in that great feast of tabernacles, the type of better things yet to come; and when the blast was heard on the great day of atonement it was the immediate precursor of the jubilee of Israel and the land. Joshua and Gideon also can tell us terrible yet glorious things of the trumpet; and who knows David, or Solomon, the then tabernacle, or the temple, and not the trumpets?
Let us see this and so establish our general principle, once for all, by rapidly glancing at the scriptures which mention the trumpets.
The first place in scripture in which we meet with “the trumpet,” is in Ex. 19 It is here introduced to us as “The herald of the presence of the divine Majesty,” when Jehovah formally displayed His glory to the people whom He had chosen to Himself to be their king, upon the top of mount Sinai: (ver. 13) “when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come to the mount.” “And (ver. 16) there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.” “And (ver. 19) when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice,” “And (chap. 20: 18) all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” Here evidently the trumpet was God's.
Of the three great feasts annually kept by Israel, one only was ushered in with the blowing of trumpets (Lev. 23:24), “In the seventh month, in the first of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” This (called by some “the feast of trumpets") was followed on the tenth day of the month by the great day of atonement (ver. 27), and on the fifteenth by the feast of tabernacles. (Ver. 34.) This first day of the seventh month is thus distinguished, Num. 29:1: “it is a day of blowing of trumpets to you.”
But besides this “day of blowing, of trumpets,” there was the trumpet of jubilee, and this upon the great day of atonement. After every forty and nine years (Lev. 25:9), “then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you.” A year of rest and joy was this to the land and to its inhabitants—when the alienation of property ended, and every man returned to his own possession.
In Num. 10:2-10, we have the more general orders about the trumpets. There were to be two silver trumpets, of a whole piece, for the calling of the assembly and the journeying of the camps.
When both were blown, the assembly was to meet Moses at the door of the congregation; when one only, then the princes, even the heads of the thousands of Israel.
If one alarm was blown, the camps eastward were to set forward.
If a second, then the camp southward.
The sons of Aaron—the priests—were to blow. And it was promised that on war in the land, God would, on the alarm being sounded, remember and save them from their enemies. “Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt-offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings, that they may not be to you a memorial before your God.” And in chapter 31:6 we find Moses sending Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpet to blow, in his hand.
The new trumpets and the wonderful purpose the Lord put them to, connected with the capture of Jericho, may well claim our attention next.—(Josh. 6) When Jericho was straitly shut up by the children of Israel, the Lord said to Joshua, “Compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about it once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout: and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him.” And so it was, but, as if to impress this upon our souls, we have not only this detailed order given, but the whole repeated over again by Joshua to the people, and the account of how they carried it into execution, given in full detail, and the success that followed; just as if the Spirit had found peculiar pleasure in resting the minds of those He would teach upon the ways of that God with whom we have to do.
The next use of the trumpet we find by the judges through whom God delivered Israel from the enemies, whom their unbelief left to be lords in the land. Thus we have Ehud (Judg. 3:27), after nobly slaying with his own hand Eglon king of Moab who had oppressed Israel eighteen years, blowing a trumpet in mount Ephraim; and then they went down and slew ten thousand Moabites, and subdued Moab that day.
So again, chapter 6: 34, when Midian and Amalek came against Israel,” the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Abi-ezer was gathered after him.” And the Lord chose three hundred men out of the thirty-two thousand who were gathered, and to these he gave the victory. For Gideon divided them into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites, and all the children of the east, lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number as the sand by the sea shore for multitude. And Gideon and the one hundred men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp; and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and the three companies blew the trumpets and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right bands to blow; and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. And there was victory. In 1 Sam. 13:3 we have Saul blowing the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. The rest of the chapter would lead one to suppose that this also was in self-will
And we have Joab blowing the trumpet, as in 2 Sam. 2:28, and then “all the people [of Judah] stood still, and pursued after Israel no more,” neither fought they any more.
Again, chapter 18:16: and then “the people returned from pursuing after Israel.”
And again, chapter 20: 22: and then “they retired from the city, every man to his tent.” In these three cases, as in that of Sheba, chapter 20: 1—when every man of Israel went back up after David, and followed Sheba—it was the signal of retreat.
Under David, too, we read much about trumpets, for he and all Israel played before the Lord with all their might on trumpets and other instruments, when bringing up the ark, both from Kirjath-jearim and from the house of Obed-edom. (2 Sam. 6:15; 1 Chron. 13:8; 15:28.)
And the priests also, in the movement from the house of Obed-edom (1 Chron. 15:24), blew the trumpets; and (as we see, chap. 16: 6, 42) their use of the trumpet was in the arrangements of David for the ark fully recognized; as indeed yet more fully in the temple (as we see, 2 Chron. 5:12, 13; 7:6; 29:26, 27, 28, and in 13:12, 14): we have their place thus in the battle recognized.
It was thus also that Solomon was proclaimed, 1 Kings 1:39, for “Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon!”
Thus also (2 Kings 9:13) we have the officers recognizing Jehu as king, and (chap. 11: 14, and 2 Chron. 23:13) Joash proclaimed. And here, in the reformation under Joash, we have a simple proof of the value set by God upon the silver trumpets as first appointed—in that they are included among the things which it is said Jehoiada did not make for lack of means.
In the prophets generally the trumpet is used simply as connected with war, as Jeremiah expresses it (chap. 4: 18): “Thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” Yet there are a few passages calculated to leave a very strong impression upon the mind, as (Isa. 27:13): “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” Again (Zech. 9:14), “And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.”
We may refer also to Matt. 24:31: “He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.”
1 Cor. 15:52, “At the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Thess. 4:16, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” And be it remembered that when the Lord appears to John in Rev. 1, His voice was as a trumpet (ver. 10); and the same voice as it were of a great trumpet called him up (chap. 4: 1) to heaven.” With these thoughts let us proceed.
Chapter viii. 7, First Angel.—Hail is the symbol of wrath (Ex. 9:18-33; 10:5-15; Psa. 78:47; 105:32; 148:8; Isa. 28:2, 17; Hag. 2:17), fire of “discernment” or judgment, blood of condemnation. Trees and grass are the more simple and natural means of life to man and beast: for the former see Gen. 1:29; 2:9; Deut. 20:19; for the latter, Gen. 1:11, 12; Deut. 11:15; Psa. 104:14 and 106: 20.
The presence of God having been announced by the trumpet, heaven-sent judgments follow. They are partly natural, as hail and fire, and partly above the course of nature, as blood. And they come, not on the unformed mass of nations (as the results of the next trumpet), but upon that which stands before God as “the earth,” —the place in which His testimony has been, perhaps; and there they destroy all the more simple and natural ways and means of support.
(Continued from page 160.)