INTRODUCTORY
We have pointed out the mysteriousness of the Trumpets. Whatever difficulty there may be in a minute exposition of certain figures and symbols this, at least, may be granted, that the devastation of Gentile christianized lands and peoples is unmistakably graven on the Trumpet series of judgments as a whole; their general bearing, even though couched under a wealth of figure, is plain. It is the judgment of Christendom, which is in the main the subject of the Trumpets.
But now in the vision before us the situation is changed; we pass on to the ground of well-known prophecy. The Prophets and the Psalms have made us acquainted with the state of things in Judea and Jerusalem at the epoch referred to in our chapter, hence the interpretation is comparatively simple. We are on Jewish ground. But why is the interest of prophetic dealing transferred from the Gentile to the Jew, and why is Jerusalem so prominent in the vision, the center of the situation? The reasons are not far to seek. Providential dealing with the apostate part of the Gentile world is now closing up. The government of the earth is about to be assumed openly, and it only remains to pour out under the Vials the concentrated wrath of God upon the guilty scene. But Israel is the center of Gentile blessing and of judgment too. The course of judgment is drawing to a close. We are in the second half of Daniel’s celebrated seventieth week of seven years. At that time man’s center of earthly government will be Rome (Rev. 17:1818And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)). God’s center and capital seat of earthly government is Jerusalem. There are many cities of note, but in importance Jerusalem dwarfs them all. “Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her” (Ezek. 5:55Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. (Ezekiel 5:5)). Jerusalem is the capital of the millennial world, and the center from whence the Lord governs the nations (Isa. 2:1-41The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:1‑4)), “the city of the great King.” When the Gentile world is brought into blessing it is not apart from but in direct connection with Israel. “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people” (Rom. 15:1010And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. (Romans 15:10)). The settlement of the nations, the respective territory assigned to each, is in no wise dependent on conquest, or war, or purchase, but on the fiat of the Most High. When He “divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance’.’ (Dent. 32:8-9). The purpose of God to make Israel and her land the center round which He shall gather the nations is not frustrated, but postponed. Our chapter presents the initial stages in the development of this glorious earthly purpose.
The Jews and Jerusalem are in the forefront of the prophecy, and viewed as trodden down of the Gentiles. The circumstances in this most affecting period of their national history are touchingly described in Psalm 79. Here we have first the storm, then the calm; the agony of Israel’s closing hours of unbelief are here depicted, but joy cometh in the morning, and on this latter the Hebrew prophets grandly descant.
In the beginning of the chapter we are introduced to the most familiar of Jewish imagery-the temple, altar, court, holy city, and so forth.
THE TEMPLE AND JERUSALEM
1-2. “And there was given unto me a reed like a staff, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it. And the court which (is) without the temple cast out, and measure it not; because it has been given (up) to the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-two months.” “A reed like a staff.” The reed was a measuring instrument, and is frequently mentioned by the prophets of old. The temple, altar, and worshippers measured by the Seer intimate their appropriation, preservation, and acceptance by God. An angel with a golden reed measures the glorified Church (Rev. 21:1515And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. (Revelation 21:15)). The Seer with a wooden reed does a like office for the temple. “Like a staff,” or firm rod, signifies the strength, stability, and firmness of the emblematic action referred to.
“Rise and measure.” The Seer had been a passive yet deeply interested spectator of the scenes witnessed under the previous Trumpets, but now that Israel, his own nation, is in question he is commanded to “rise.” He is roused into activity by the divine mandate. It is more than a mere question of posture.
The temple, the altar, the worshippers, all are measured. Christian worship comes in between the suspension of Jewish worship in the past and its resumption in the future. Christians have no place of worship on earth; they enter no earthly temple. The holiest in the sanctuary above is their one and only place of worship (John 4:21,23-2421Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. (John 4:21)
23But 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. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23‑24); Heb. 10:19-2219Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19‑22)); their sacrifices are praise to God and practical benevolence to men (Heb. 13:15-1615By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Hebrews 13:15‑16)). But this is very different from Jewish worship both in the past and in the future. A temple and altar are essential to Jewish worship. While for the force of the figure it is not essential to suppose the existence of a material temple then in Jerusalem, yet prophecy demands the erection of a stone temple, and the reconstruction of the Jewish polity, both secular and religious, during that deeply solemn period between the Translation (1 Thess. 4:16-1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17)) and the Appearing (Jude 14-1514And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14‑15)).
The Jews as a nation are restored in unbelief both on their part and on that of the friendly nation who espouse their cause (Isa. 18). They then proceed to build their temple, and restore, so far as they can, the Mosaic ritual. God is not in this Gentile movement for Jewish restoration, which is undertaken for political ends and purposes. But amidst the rank unbelief of these times there shall be, as ever, a true, godly remnant, and it is this remnant which is here divinely recognized. Gentile oppression and Jewish national apostasy but bring into bold relief the faithful and consequently suffering witnesses of that day, the closing hours of the unbelieving nation’s history. “The temple of God” is so termed, because He owns and accepts the true worshippers found therein. The altar refers to the brazen altar which stood in the court of old. It signifies the acceptance of those who in faith draw nigh to it, of course, as ever, on the righteous and holy ground of sacrifice. As to the moral value of the terms the “temple” would express the worship, and the “altar” the acceptance of the godly remnant of Israel. The unmeasured and rejected court given over to the Gentiles signifies the apostate part of the people, the mass in outward religious profession abandoned by God to the nations, who will wreak their vengeance on the guilty people, spite of the promised assistance of the Beast (Isa. 28:17-2217Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 19From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. 20For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 21For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 22Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:17‑22)).
The “court” signifies Judaism in alliance with the Gentiles, and that in its most corrupt and apostate character.
JERUSALEM TRODDEN DOWN
2. “The holy city shall they tread under foot forty -two months.” Jerusalem is here as elsewhere spoken of in its sacred character as “the holy city” (see Neh. 11:1,181And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities. (Nehemiah 11:1)
18All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred fourscore and four. (Nehemiah 11:18); Isa. 52:11Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. (Isaiah 52:1); Dan. 9:2424Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Daniel 9:24), and more). She is to be trodden under foot for an exactly defined period, forty-two months. This denomination of time is elsewhere spoken of as 1260 days (vs. 3; 12:6), a time, times, and half a time (Rev. 12:1414And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Revelation 12:14)). It is also referred to in Daniel 9:2727And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27) in the expression, “The midst of the week.” Now these periods refer to the last half-week of seven years of Daniel’s prophecy (Rev. 9:24-27).
The forty-two months during which Jerusalem is trodden down, trampled upon by the Gentiles, are months of thirty days each, thus corresponding to the 1260 days of sackcloth testimony borne by the two witnesses or prophets. Jerusalem’s coming hour of agony is limited to forty-two months. She will have to drink the cup of the Lord’s fury, and drink it for 1260 days. The Gentiles will tread down the people as mire in the streets (Isa. 10:66I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isaiah 10:6), and so forth). Even those nations which at first politically befriended the Jew will turn round and glut their vengeance on the restored nation. “They,” Judah restored by Gentile intervention, “shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them” (Isa. 18:66They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. (Isaiah 18:6)). Thus the Gentile enemies of Israel are let loose upon the people of Jehovah’s choice, then in open idolatry and apostate from God and truth (Matt. 12:43-4543When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45Then 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 12:43‑45)). “The last state of that man (Judah) is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (vs. 45).
JEWISH WITNESSES
3-4. “And I will give (power) to My two wit nesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred (and) sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lamps which stand before the Lord of the earth.” The worshippers in the temple are a distinct company from the witnesses in the city. The worshippers and the prophets respectively set forth the truths of priesthood and royalty which unite in Christ in His millennial reign, “He shall be a priest upon His throne” (Zech. 6:1313Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:13)); of this the witnesses testify.
On the question of the number of witnesses conjectures innumerable have been advanced, such as the two Testaments, the law and the Gospel, Huss and Jerome, the Waldenses and the Albigenses, etc. Others with more show of reason, and with an apparent sanction of Scripture, suppose that Moses and Elijah are the two witnesses, quoting Malachi 4 in proof of their contention. “Remember ye the law of Moses My servant” (vs. 4) would not imply a personal presence of the great lawgiver in the scenes of the last days; whereas verse five does seem a very express declaration that the distinguished prophet has again to reappear in Palestine: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” A full and adequate testimony is the thought purposely intended in the number of the witnesses. It seems to us that a larger number than actually two is called for in the solemn crisis before us, also that verse eight supposes a company of slain witnesses. But the point is immaterial. Jewish law, and here we are in the midst of Jewish circumstances, called for two witnesses to give competent evidence (Deut. 17:6; 19:156At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. (Deuteronomy 17:6)
15One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. (Deuteronomy 19:15)). Two angels bore testimony to the resurrection of the Lord (John 20:1212And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (John 20:12)), and two men to His ascension (Acts 1:1010And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; (Acts 1:10)).
3. “I will give.” The Revised Version, Tregelles, and others omit the interpolated word “power.” The sense of the passage requires a word for its completion, and hence the translators of the Authorized Version rightly enough inserted in italics in the text, “I will give power unto My two witnesses.” Power or efficacy is imparted to the testimony of the witnesses. Such seems the obvious sense of the passage as demanded by the context.
The days of their testimony are carefully numbered. Theirs is not an intermittent testimony, but is continued daily till the allotted period is exhausted, not, however, a day longer. It will be observed that the 1260 days come short of three years and a half by seventeen and a half days. At the close of the period indicated the seventh Trumpet sounds, the Tribulation ends, the power of the Beast to further persecute God’s saints abruptly terminates (Rev. 13:55And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. (Revelation 13:5)).
3. “Clothed in sackcloth” would express the afflicted condition of the witnesses (Joel 1:1313Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. (Joel 1:13); 1 Kings 20:3131And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life. (1 Kings 20:31); Jer. 4:88For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us. (Jeremiah 4:8)).
“These are the two olive trees and the two lamps.” Why are the two prophets so peculiarly designated? The undoubted reference is to Zechariah 4. The olive, vine, and fig trees have each its distinctive signification. The olive is testimony (Rom. 11). The vine fruitfulness (John 15). The fig Israel nationally (Luke 21:2929And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; (Luke 21:29)). The witnesses in Jerusalem are termed “olive trees,” because in that day they represent the testimony of God, and maintain prophetically the royal and priestly rights of the Messiah. They are also termed “the two lamps,” for the light of the Spirit is in them. Their testimony is of no uncertain character, for it is carried on in the clear light of God. God is with them spiritually and in power.
But, further, the witnesses are said to “stand before the Lord of the earth,” not God, as in the Authorized Version. There is One and only One Who has right and title to all here below. Jehovah, the Savior of Israel, has in Himself an indisputed right to the earth. It belongs to Him. The right is denied, of which the resistance and conflicts of apostate Jews and Gentiles detailed in the Apocalypse are the sorrowful witness. The prophets stand before the Lord of the earth; they know in whose presence they are, and they endure as seeing Him by faith, Who to mortal sight is invisible.
Thus, then, the witnesses, be they two or many, prophesy uninterruptedly for an exact 1260 days. Their office and the sorrowful circumstances under which their testimony is carried on are signified in their clothing of sackcloth. Their testimony is one of power, and also one of spiritual light in the midst of the gloom which settles down like a funeral pall over the guilty city of Jerusalem, the guiltiest city on earth.
MIRACULOUS POWER OF THE WITNESSES
5-6. “And if anyone wills to injure them, fire goes out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. And if anyone wills to injure them, thus must he be killed. These have power to shut the Heaven that no rain may fall during the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth as often as they will with every plague.” We have had the concentration of light and power in the witnesses; now they are empowered to protect themselves and accredit their mission to the “rebellious” of Israel (Psa. 68:1818Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18)) by inflicting signal judgment on their enemies, and by exhibiting signs of a supernatural kind.
None, be they high or low, are beyond the reach of judgment. Death is the certain portion of those who “wills to injure” the witnesses. No doubt the testimony will be received by some, perhaps by many (Dan. 12:33And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)); others, and by far the greater number, proudly and disdainfully reject the message; while another class will seek to injure (not hurt as in the Authorized Version) the witnesses by violence or calumny. On these last stern judgment is executed, not on the mass, but individually, as the opposition to the witnesses assumes a violent character. Now grace works in saving the souls of men, then judgment is active in clearing the earth of Christ-rejecting sinners. The difference of the dispensations must not be overlooked. The principle is illustrated in the two Psalms (22 and 69). In the first part of both Psalms we have the sufferings of Christ. But in the former the effect of His sorrows is blessing even to the ends of the earth and for all time to come (vss. 22-31); whereas in the latter judgment is invoked on those who contributed to the anguish of the suffering Savior (vss. 22-28). Christ suffered for sin (Psa. 22) and also for righteousness (Psa. 69). When the day of grace has run its course the day of vengeance surely follows.
But while verse five asserts the possession by the witnesses of conferred authority (vs. 3) to protect themselves and vindicate in stern judgment their mission—a power which, without doubt, will be exercised—verse six intimates a bolder and wider commission. The miracles of Moses when Israel was in subjection to the Gentiles (Ex. 7-12), and of Elijah (1 Kings 17; 18) when Israel was apostate from God, are again to be witnessed in like character. Jerusalem will be the center of these miraculous signs of a public kind. What a testimony to the apostate nation of that day! The miracles of Moses repeated, at least in character, will remind them of their ancient slavery to Egypt, and a token of their subjection to Gentile rule once again; while the miracles of Elijah, re-enacted before the public gaze, will surely lead their thoughts back to their former state of apostasy from God to Baal. Jehovah, the Lord of the earth, has again to assert His claims before His apostate people. Thus the condition of Israel, at least of Judah and in Jerusalem, is similar to that in the days of Moses and Elijah—slavery and apostasy, necessitating on the part of Jehovah a ministry adapted to both states with their corresponding miraculous signs.
A Moses and an Elias character of ministry is predicated of the witnesses.
THE BEAST AND THE WITNESSES
7. “And when they shall have completed their testimony, the Beast who comes up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall conquer them, and shall kill them.” The witnesses are invincible and immortal till their mission is completed. They have prophesied in Jerusalem, the center of prophetic and political interest during the last half of the coming week, less a little over a fortnight, during which time the Vials are poured out. But now the Beast, that is, the revived empire of Rome, comes upon the scene. This is the first mention of the Beast in these apocalyptic visions. He is named as one well known. In Daniel 7: 2, 3 and Revelation 13:1 The Beast, or Rome, rises from the sea, that is, out of the struggling masses of mankind, out of a scene of anarchy and confusion. The Antichrist rises after the historical formation of the empire, and out of a settled condition of civil and political government, spoken of as the land or earth (Rev. 13:1111And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Revelation 13:11)). But in our text the Beast is said to come “up out of the abyss.” That is to say that whilst its historical rise is human, its revival is satanic. The Beast has been ravaging in Christendom, aided by his political subordinate the Antichrist (Rev. 13). Judea has especially felt the cruel and relentless hand of the persecutor (Matt. 24:15-2815When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:15‑28); Rev. 12:13-1713And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:13‑17)). But now Jerusalem itself is visited. The witnesses in the city were safe, while their brethren in the faith and companions in sorrow were passing through the horrors of the Great Tribulation, a period of affliction unparalleled in the annals of history (Mark 13:1919For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. (Mark 13:19)). The wickedness of earth has risen to a height in the holy city. The man of sin is there. But God interposes and publicly vindicates His servants by miraculous signs and tokens of power and judgment. The testimony in Jerusalem (vs. 3) is coeval with the existence of the Beast as a persecuting power (Rev. 13: 5). The continuance of the Beast is for at least seven years, but his power to persecute is limited to 1260 days, or forty-two months of thirty days each. The Beast is then permitted, at the close of his active career, to enter Jerusalem and slay the witnesses; “his last political act,” as one has said. The Beast has triumphed. He wars against the saints, conquers them, and kills them. Goodness and faith seem banished from the earth (Psa. 4:66There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. (Psalm 4:6); Luke 18:88I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)). The question is asked whether they will then exist at all. But the story of the witnesses is not yet finished; God’s vindication, if delayed, is most sure. The triumphing of the wicked is short, and of that we are now to read, after which God’s approval of His faithful witnesses is publicly expressed. The Beast in cruelty and blasphemy exceeds every power which has ever appeared on the earth. His doom and that of his confederate is an awful one (Rev. 19:2020And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20)).
SCORNFUL TREATMENT OF THE SLAIN WITNESSES, AND GENERAL REJOICING
8-10. “And their body (shall be) on the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. And (men) of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, see their body three days and a half, and they do not suffer their bodies to be put into a sepulcher. And they that dwell upon the earth rejoice over them, and are full of delight, and shall send gifts one to another, because these, the two prophets, tormented them that dwell upon the earth.” In the passage before us we have both the body and the bodies of the witnesses spoken of. In the use of the singular is intimated one common contemptuous treatment. Jerusalem is here termed “the great city.” Rome (civil) and Babylon (mystical), as also all human consolidated power within the limits of the empire, are similarly designated—Revelation 17:1818And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18) for the first, Revelation 18:1010Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. (Revelation 18:10) for the second, and Revelation 16:1919And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. (Revelation 16:19) for the third. The moral degradation of Jerusalem is expressed in the title “the great city.” It is not named, but characterized as “spiritually Sodom and Egypt.” The former because of its filthiness and wickedness (Gen. 18; 19; Jude 77Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7); 2 Peter 2:6-86And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (2 Peter 2:6‑8)), and the latter because it was the first enslaver and oppressor of God’s people (Ex. 1: 14). “Where also their (not our) Lord was crucified.” This clause positively forbids a mystical application to the Church. The historical city of Jerusalem is here identified by that which was the crowning act of her guilt, the crucifixion of “their Lord,” that is, the Lord of the slain witnesses.
It will be noted that there are three classes in this dark picture: (1) The Beast who murders the witnesses. (2) Those “of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations,” who look upon the bodies of the prophets cast out upon the street or public places of the city, and thus exposed to the vulgar gaze; further, they express their hatred and scorn in forbidding the burial of the bodies, a shameful proceeding.
(3) “They that dwell upon the earth,” the worst amongst the apostate peoples of that day. All the classes here named literally reside on the earth, but the phrase referred to is one of moral signification and import. They are apostates from Christianity, having deliberately and determinedly rejected the heavenly calling and chosen the earth instead. God may have Heaven, they are determined to have the earth as their place and portion. Bad, therefore, as the Beast and his allies are these dwellers on the earth are infinitely worse. The former, that is, the Gentiles in alliance with the Beast, deny burial to the bodies of the martyred witnesses; the latter keep high and joyous holiday, and exchange gifts and congratulations on the slaughter of the prophets. It will be noted that the general rejoicing is in the present tense, whereas the sending of gifts is in the future. The sending of presents or gifts on occasions of public joy is an old and universal custom (Prov. 19:66Many will entreat the favor of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. (Proverbs 19:6); Esther 2:18; 9:19-2218Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king. (Esther 2:18)
19Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. 20And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, 21To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 22As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. (Esther 9:19‑22)). The voice of the witnesses is hushed in the silence of death, and this is the cause of the public rejoicing. So long as the rights of God to the earth were pressed by voice and sign (vss. 3-6) the Christian apostates were “tormented” in their consciences and perhaps in their bodies as well. The Word of God wherever faithfully preached makes men unhappy. Sin with its awful consequences is a tormenting subject to even the most hardened and seared conscience.
GOD’S PUBLIC VINDICATION OF THE SLAIN WITNESSES
11-12. “And after the three days and a half (the) spirit of life from God came into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon those beholding them. And I heard a great voice out of the Heaven saying to them, Come up here; and they went up to the Heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.” The energy of life, eternal life, from God is put forth, and the witnesses rise in its power and stand upon their feet. Their witness borne, their trials past, they stand in the strength and stability of a life which death cannot touch. The effect of this publicly witnessed act of resurrection, proved in the sight and to the consciences of the apostate Gentiles to be of God, is to cause terror and alarm. “Great fear fell upon those beholding them.” The three and a half days twice mentioned (vss. 9,11) are literal days. It is impossible to regard them otherwise. We are here on the eve of the events concluding the last prophetic week. Probably not many days have to run, much less years, ere the Lord returns to take to Himself His power and kingdom. He comes at the end of the week, and we are here about its close. There is neither room nor need to interpret the time specified other than literally. The four denominations of time mentioned in the chapter are literal and exact periods, and have their place not in the historical past, but in the coming crisis.
12. The Seer then heard “a great voice out of the Heaven.” This was the voice of Jehovah or of one empowered by Him. The voice was addressed to the witnesses raised in bodies immortal and incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:5454So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54)), and standing in the presence of their enemies, then overcome with fear. “Come up here.” In Heaven they are to find their place and portion. What an answer to earth’s scorn, reproach, and murder I What a sight for their enemies! We are to be caught up in the clouds (1 Thess. 4:1717Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)); they went up in the cloud, not in a cloud. Why “the cloud?” Evidently a special and known cloud is referred to, probably that in which Christ descended (Rev. 10:11And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: (Revelation 10:1)). The cloud is the symbol of the presence of Jehovah (Ex. 40:34-3834Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: 37But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:34‑38)). Only here and in Luke 9:3434While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. (Luke 9:34) do we read of persons entering into the glory cloud, the cloud of the divine presence.
12. “And their enemies beheld them.” Both the resurrection of the witnesses and their triumphant departure out of the scene of testimony and suffering were publicly witnessed (for the former see vs. 11, for the latter see vs. 12). In these two respects they differ from that of Christ and of the heavenly saints. No human eye beheld Christ emerge from the sepulcher; His disciples alone witnessed His ascension. There is not a hint afforded that our coming resurrection and translation are witnessed by any on earth. While the order in which the resurrection of the just, the change of the living, and the subsequent translation of both classes of saints (1 Thess. 4; 1 Cor. 15) is traced out even in minute detail, yet all is so quickly done that it would be impossible for the world to witness the sight. All is accomplished “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:5252In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52)).
JUDGMENT
13. “And in that hour there was a great earth quake, and the tenth of the city fell, and seven thou sand names of men were slain in the earthquake. And the remnant were filled with fear, and gave glory to the God of the Heaven.” “In that hour there was a great earthquake.” Under the sixth Seal (Rev. 6:1212And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; (Revelation 6:12)), as here under the sixth Trumpet, there is a “great earthquake,” great because of the appalling effect produced. Under the seventh Vial there is witnessed one even more terrible, one so disastrous as to overshadow all previous judgments of a like character (Rev. 16:1818And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. (Revelation 16:18)). It is without doubt a violent disruption of society, of all governmental and social order, that is referred to under the sixth Seal. But here in the narrow and circumscribed sphere before us we judge that a literal earthquake is meant, one which will destroy a part of the city and kill seven thousand—a complete number devoted to death. Jerusalem has been the scene of similar visitations in the past, as it will be in the future (Zech. 14; Matt. 28:22And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. (Matthew 28:2)). An upheaval of the forces of nature, carrying in its train destruction of life and property, would be eminently fitted to impress the rest of the guilty inhabitants with the solemn fact that Jehovah’s intervention in judgment was a stern reality.
13. “The tenth of the city fell.” The hour of triumph for the witnesses was the hour of retributive justice on the city wherein they had testified, and in which their blood had been wantonly shed. We understand a “tenth” here as signifying a complete judgment. Thus the ten plagues upon Egypt were the sum of Jehovah’s completed judgments upon that land (Ex. 9:1414For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. (Exodus 9:14)). The ten commandments expressed the full measure of Jehovah’s demands upon His people—the measure of their obedience (Ex. 20).
13. “Seven thousand names of men were slain in the earthquake.” In the Authorized Version and Revised Version “names of men” is omitted in the text but inserted in the margin. We have inserted the deleted sentence in the text. The definiteness of the judgment seems purposely intended in the peculiar phraseology employed, “names of men.” We have already remarked on the analogous circumstances of the Jews in Jerusalem as shown in our chapter to the apostate times in which Elijah stood for God. The same character of miracles are here wrought. Compare the first part of verse six with James 5:17-1817Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James 5:17‑18). As to the number “seven thousand” here by God devoted to death, we are reminded of “the seven thousand in Israel” whom God had reserved for Himself (1 Kings 19:1818Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (1 Kings 19:18)), another allusion by contrast to the times of Elijah. An exact company of just seven thousand need no more be thought of than literal numbers mentioned in Revelation 7:4-8; 14:34And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. 5Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. (Revelation 7:4‑8)
3And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3) of the Apocalypse. What is before us is simply a full and perfect number, be it large or small. A certain defined number is doomed to death.
13. “The remnant were filled with fear, and gave glory to the God of the Heaven.” The remnant is in contrast with the seven thousand slain. Thus the mass of the guilty inhabitants of Jerusalem really form two classes, the slain and spared. This latter company tremble. The arm of God has been bared in judgment and the “remnant” fear. The effect of the appalling judgment on the city and people is not to lead the survivors to repentance and faith, but in their terror they give “glory to the God of the Heaven.” Till the conscience is thoroughly searched and the soul brought into the light there can be no communion with God. They wish Him away from the scene of their interests. They are willing enough when their souls are overwhelmed with terror to “give glory to the God of the Heaven,” because that keeps Him at a distance. But the special testimony of the Apocalypse is to God’s right and title to the earth, and that is the very question in dispute with these apostates, whether Jewish or Christian. Hence till God’s right and claim to the earth is recognized, further and severer judgment is needed. God’s claim is unqualified and peremptory, and He cannot forego nor abate one iota of His righteous demand. Glory given to the God of Heaven, in the manner of those affrighted apostates, cannot avert the stern course of judgment.
The first Woe, or fifth Trumpet, is announced as past in Revelation 9:1212One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. (Revelation 9:12); here in verse 14 we have a similar intimation as to the second Woe, the prophet adding, “Behold the third Woe cometh quickly,” the final consummation is at hand.
THE WORLD KINGDOM OF OUR LORD
15-18. “And the seventh angel sounded (his) Trumpet: and there were great voices in the Heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of His Christ is come, and He shall reign to the ages of ages. And the twenty-four 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 is come, and the time of the dead to his 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 destroy those that destroy the earth.” The seventh Seal and the seventh Trumpet are alike in this respect, that no immediate judgment is announced, no events directly fall under them (see Rev. 8:1; 11:15-181And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. (Revelation 8:1)
15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:15‑18)). The consummation so grandly celebrated in the verses before us do not record events properly falling under the sounding of the seventh Trumpet. Nothing is recorded as immediately resulting from the Trumpet being blown. This will be evident from even a slight examination of the passage we are now considering. The kingdom and the power taken, the doxology of the elders, the anger of the nations, the wrath of God, the judgment of the dead, and the reward to servants and saints constitute the great and distinguishing truths of the millennium kingdom during its whole course and even on till eternity. Compare “the time of the dead to be judged” with Revelation 20:1212And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12). The last Trumpet sounds. Then the present mysterious ways of God with men are completed. God is about to act openly, and inflict a series of short, sharp, and decisive judgments on the vast consolidated and apostate power then dominating the earth, that is, the Beast (Rev. 16). This concluding series of divine chastisements is seen to issue from God Himself. There is no mystery in them. But before these are inflicted, the world kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is announced as come. Great voices in Heaven proclaim it. Not that the kingdom has actually come, but it is anticipated. The ruin of all opposing power and authority must necessarily precede the establishment of the kingdom, and to this Revelation 16 and 19:17; 20:3 conclusively witness.
The anticipation of the kingdom, and not the actual setting up of it, is the cause of the rejoicing in Heaven. When the kingdom is established in power earth as well as Heaven will unite in thanksgiving and song. We repeat, that it is in Heaven only where the kingdom is celebrated as come. Whilst rejoicing characterizes the inhabitants of Heaven—the angels and the redeemed—the earth is preparing to enter into its last throes of agony ere the light of the millennial morning dawn and dispel the gloom. It is only in Heaven that our Lord and His Christ take the kingdom; only there is it celebrated. The seventh Trumpet does not bring in the kingdom, but intimates its nearness. The strong angel in Revelation 10:6, 76And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 7But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:6‑7) had solemnly sworn that at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet the mystery of God should be completed, and that without delay. He here makes his oath and word good. The Trumpet sounds, and open, public judgment seen by all to be from Heaven is the witness that now God has risen up to publicly intervene in the affairs of men. But before we are called to see these last judicial chastisements on the apostate scene, Heaven in its calmness looks forward and exults in the near establishment of the kingdom.
The Authorized Version reads, verse 15, “The kingdoms of this world,” the Revised Version rightly substitutes “The kingdom of the world.” It may seem a trivial difference, but it is not really so. “The kingdoms of this world” at once suggest many kings, numerous conflicting interests, international jealousies, and the like, whereas “The kingdom of the world (or world kingdom) of our Lord and of His Christ is come” intimates one universal kingdom covering the globe; all parts of the earth brought into subjection to the One reigning monarch. The government of the earth will be exercised by One who will control all evil and establish righteousness. His beneficent sway will be in every respect in happy contrast to past and present kingly rule and government. One undivided and universal kingdom covering the whole earth and righteously and graciously governed is the thought intended.
The many voices of the heavenly host are answered by an act of profoundest worship on the part of the elders or representatives of the redeemed. Their normal place is as enthroned and crowned before God. Twice in Revelation 5 the elders fall down and worship (vss. 8, 14). Here only is it said “They fell upon their faces, and worshipped God.” In no other instance do the elders so prostrate themselves. The occasion demands it. Then follows a doxology from the elders in which they not only rejoice, but give intelligent reasons for so doing (see Rev. 5:5, 8-10; 7:13-175And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. (Revelation 5:5)
8And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. 9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:8‑10)
13And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14And 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. 15Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:13‑17), and more.). There are seven doxologies mentioned in the course of these apocalyptic visions, of which this is one. These are introduced only on occasions of deep interest (Rev. 5:12; 7:12; 11:15; 12:10; 14:2; 15:2; 19:112Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. (Revelation 5:12)
12Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7:12)
15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)
10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Revelation 12:10)
2And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: (Revelation 14:2)
2And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2)
1And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: (Revelation 19:1)).
Thanks are given to Jehovah (Lord) God Almighty, a strong combination of divine titles. Jehovah the self-existing One; God (Elohim), Who as such is the Creator; Almighty too in power, in resources. Then the eternity of His Being is declared, “Who is” (eternal existence), and “Who was” in relation to the past. “And art to come” is in the text of the Authorized Version, but should be omitted, as in the Revised Version and other translations. “To come” would be out of place in the doxology before us, as the kingdom in its time and eternal features is regarded as present. The deleted sentence is correct in Revelation 4:88And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:8).
17. “Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast reigned.” It is interesting to observe that while the kingdom is that of our Lord and of His Christ, or Anointed (Psa. 2), yet He takes it, not they. While Jehovah and Christ are here severally distinguished, yet they are united in taking the kingdom and in the subsequent reign, hence the use of the singular pronoun, where one might expect rather the employment of the plural.
Well may it be termed “Thy great power.” The fullness of divine power, the might of the Eternal God, is put forth, and the kingdom in its widest sweep as embracing the heavens and earth, and as stretching on through time into eternity, has been wrested from the grasp of the enemy, and “hast reigned” is the term employed, so sure that it is spoken of as past.
Next, the elders in a passing sentence historically summarize the feeling of the nations toward God and His people—heavenly and earthly—”And the nations have been full of wrath,” spoken of in the past tense. “And Thy wrath is come.” Note the difference in the tenses. The wrath of the nations has been. The wrath of God is come.
18. “The time of the dead to be judged” carries us on in thought to the close of the kingdom (Rev. 20:1212And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)). The judgment of the nations (Matt. 25:3232And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (Matthew 25:32)) is at the commencement of the kingdom reign; that of the world, or inhabited earth (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)), during its whole term or course; while the dead are judged after the earthly kingdom has passed away (Rev. 20:11-1211And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:11‑12)).
18. “And to give the recompense.” Both the judgment and recompense are characteristic actions of the kingdom. The distribution of reward is both common and special. The recompense of rest and glory is bestowed upon all God’s saints alike. But there are special crowns and rewards. In the very conception of a kingdom varying degrees and stations of honor are necessarily thought of. “The recompense” is not only therefore God’s answer to the state of His afflicted people here, but embraces also the several and distinctive positions which they will occupy in the kingdom. The reward in this latter is proportioned to the faithfulness, suffering, and service of each individual saint.
18. “Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear Thy Name, small and great,” are the persons specified to whom “the recompense” is given. There are three classes referred to: (1) “Thy servants the prophets” evidently point to those who have in all ages witnessed for God. The witnesses of our chapter are termed “prophets” (vss. 3,10), hence the term “servants” must be understood in a narrower sense than that employed in Revelation 1:1; 2:20; 22:31The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: (Revelation 1:1)
20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Revelation 2:20)
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). It is used in Revelation 7:33Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. (Revelation 7:3) to designate the sealed of Israel. “Servants” is here qualified by the additional noun “prophets.” “Thy servants the prophets.” To witness for God in a dark and evil day is a service which God never forgets. All such are peculiarly His servants. (2) “The saints.” This term is the common one in the New Testament to designate the general body of believers, and is nowhere used in the New Testament Scriptures to express a select company. It is the common appellation of the redeemed in both Testaments. (3) “Those who fear Thy Name, small and great.” This latter company embrace all so characterized who own the Name of the Lord. There are, no doubt, many hidden ones in all ages whose moral separation from the world is of such a feeble character that there may be grave difficulty in terming them saints. But there are those who fear the Name of the Lord in all ranks and classes of society. The technical expression, “the small and great,” designates the respective status of each in the world and before God (see Rev. 13:16; 19:5, 18; 20:1216And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: (Revelation 13:16)
5And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. (Revelation 19:5)
18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. (Revelation 19:18)
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)). Thus those who fear His Name, wherever found, be they amongst the low or exalted, come in here for their special reward.
18. “And to destroy those that destroy the earth.” That is, the time has also come when the destroyers of the earth, that is, the Beast, the Antichrist, and their followers, are themselves destroyed. This latter class is a contrasted company to the dead who are judged. The active workers of evil corrupting the earth are surprised in their terrible work, and are subjected at once to divine judgment. The earth is the Lord’s, part of that inheritance purchased by Christ and about to be redeemed by power (Eph. 1:1414Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14)), hence it must be cleared of all who are destroying it, whether physically by the Beast or morally by his coadjutor the Antichrist.
THE SITUATION REVIEWED
The chapter opens with a temple and closes with one (vss. 1 and 19), only the latter introduces a new series of events, and resumes the general history. Verse 19 forms no part of the preceding vision. The subject-matter of the chapter closes with verse 18.
We pass from the interesting episode of the mighty angel and its attendant circumstances (Rev. 10) on to Jewish ground (Rev. 11). Our stand is Jerusalem, here termed “the great city.” God’s acceptance of the true worshippers is signified in the measuring of the temple and altar, whilst His rejection of apostate Judaism is expressed in the court being cast out (vss. 1-2). The mass of the people ally themselves with the Gentiles, then in open revolt from God and truth. It must be remembered that we have not the heathen before us, but Christendom, which is infinitely worse. But God does not leave Himself without a witness in the midst of the seething mass of corruption in Jerusalem, then the sport and plaything of Satan. A special testimony is raised up in the city, distinct from that elsewhere. The witnesses, or prophets (for they are termed both), are endowed with miraculous power. They work miracles, and protect themselves by signs of a divine character for 1260 days. Slavery to the Gentiles and apostasy from God characterize the general condition of Judah, especially those in the city of Jerusalem. Hence the miracles wrought resemble those in the days of Moses and of Elijah. Both the miracles and the character of the times are alike (vss. 3-6).
The Beast who has found his way from Rome—the capital seat of Gentile power, civil and ecclesiastical—to Jerusalem, ravages and murders at his pleasure, but both his power and the period of its exercise are under divine control. We have not here his historical rise “out of the sea” (Rev. 13:11And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1)), but his satanic revival “out of the bottomless pit,” or abyss (Rev. 11:77And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. (Revelation 11:7)). Jerusalem is morally described as filthy like Sodom, and idolatrous like Egypt, and the stigma is added, “where also their (not our) Lord was crucified.” In the city thus characterized, the bodies of the slain are cast out on the places of public resort and cruelly denied burial. All classes and representatives of the apostate world gather in the city, feasting their eyes on the murdered dead, the worst being those morally spoken of as “they that dwell on the earth” (vss. 8-10). But in the midst of the universal scene of rejoicing God intervenes and vindicates His witnesses by granting them, in full view of their enemies, a public resurrection and translation to Heaven (vss. 11-12). Judgment on the city and its guilty inhabitants follow. No saving effect is produced in the remnant spared, only that in their great fear they “give glory to the God of the Heaven” (vs. 13).
The second Woe, or sixth Trumpet, is announced as past, “the third Woe comes quickly” (vs. 14). The seventh angel sounds, and at once “great voices” break out in Heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world,” of Jehovah and of His Christ, is come. Separate nationalities and political organizations may exist under the reign of Christ, but they all own His sway, all are under His authority, and exercise their kingly rule in subjection to Him Who is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” The contest between God and Satan, as detailed in the Apocalypse, is not for any or all of the separate kingdoms of the world, but for the world as a whole; it becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed. The sovereignty of the whole world is the question in dispute. His perpetual reign, that is, to the ages of ages, is celebrated, not as yet on earth, but in Heaven. The establishment of the world kingdom is anticipated, not actually come; when it does, then the earth as well as Heaven will join in celebrating its virtues and glories. “O clap your hands, all ye peoples,” that is, Gentiles. If there is joy in Heaven as the kingdom is anticipated (vs. 15), there is sorrow on earth.
The elders next take up the strain, and profoundly worship God in the greatness and eternity of His Being, thanking Him for taking His great power and reigning. The power of the kingdom is regarded as an accomplished fact, although not then actually come. Next, the elders proceed in a statement which, for boldness and fullness, leaves nothing to be desired. The great outstanding facts of the kingdom are mentioned. The nations angry, God’s wrath come, the judgment of the dead, the recompense to His people, and, finally, the destruction of those then corrupting the earth (vss. 16-18). These eighteen verses are replete with interest, and will well repay careful study. Much spiritual insight as to the condition of Jerusalem, and of the feelings and exercises of God-fearing Jews, both inside and outside the city, at the time of which this chapter treats may be gleaned from a careful study of the prophetic character of the Book of Psalms, a study which has been much neglected.
GOD’S REMEMBRANCE OF ISRAEL
19. “And the temple of God in the Heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.” The Apocalypse, as we have noticed, is divided into three divisions-a past, a present, and a future (Rev. 1: 19). But besides this threefold division we have the contents of the book arranged under two great parts. The eighteenth verse of our chapter records the last historical action-the judgment of the dead. There is no history beyond it. This last and most solemn assize has its place after the millennial heavens have passed away and the earth burned up, and before the new eternal Heaven and new earth come into view. The judgment of the dead (Rev. 20:1212And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)) is, if we may so say, the link between time and eternity. In the first part of the Apocalypse (Rev. 1-11:18) we have unfolded the general history of the Church, of Israel, and of the world from about the close of the first Christian century down to the close of the kingdom. The second part commences with Revelation 11:1919And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:19), and occupies the rest of the book. In this part many interesting details are found, Satan is more openly in the foreground, the closing issues both in relation to the Church and the world are more fully unfolded than in the first part of the book. Verse 19 therefore is in relation to events about to be disclosed, and is not to be regarded as part and parcel of what has just been unfolded. Revelation 12 really commences with verse 19 of the previous chapter. In that which follows we have an entirely new prophecy, beginning with verse 19 and closing with Revelation 14. It is one mainly relating to Israel, as the opening visions show. In chapter 12 are witnessed in Heaven the sources of good and evil. In Revelation 13 Satan’s two chief ministers on earth are seen in active hostility against God and His saints. In Revelation 14 a series of seven events is disclosed in which the activity of God in grace and judgment is shown.
19. “The temple of God in the Heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.” Neither of these, that is, the temple and the ark of the covenant, so rich and sacred in Jewish history, is actually located in Heaven. “I saw no temple therein,” says the Seer in a subsequent vision (Rev. 21:2222And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22)). What then do they signify? What are their moral value and lessons to us “upon whom the ends of the ages are come?” The temple is the sign that God is taking up the cause and the interests of Israel, and when seen in Heaven, that it is there He is occupied with His people then on the earth. The ark of His covenant is the token of Jehovah’s presence with, and His unchanging faithfulness to, His earthly people. The rainbow round the throne (Rev. 4:33And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. (Revelation 4:3)) and encircling the head of the angel of might (Rev. 10:11And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: (Revelation 10:1)) is the sign to all who behold it of God’s covenant with creation, one of goodness and mercy. Here the ark, enclosing the tables of the law, and surmounted with its pure gold lid or mercy-seat, tells a rich tale of grace to Israel. What the rainbow was to creation, that and more the ark was, and is, to Israel.
19. “There were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.” These terms point separately and in conjunction to a storm of divine wrath, having its source in Heaven. We have already drawn attention to the signification of these terms in former parts of our Exposition. Hail from Heaven, here specially singled out by the epithet “great,” intimates the sharpness and suddenness of judgment on earth, as also its source as manifestly from God (Ex. 9:18-2518Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. 19Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. 20He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: 21And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. 22And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. 23And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. (Exodus 9:18‑25); Rev. 8:7; 16:217The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. (Revelation 8:7)
21And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. (Revelation 16:21)). The combination of destructive elements is not employed when the throne is set up. No need of it, as judgment will then proceed from the throne on earth, and not, as here, from Heaven.