CHAPTER II
PROPHECIES OF JOHN
From these
clear-cut statements of Daniel we now turn to John. This apostle lived nearly
seven centuries after Daniel. While in exile on the isle of
Being in the spirit on the Lord’s Day, he was favored with
a view of the symbolic throne of Jehovah, located in the firmamental heaven, 1
surrounded with a coruscation of light and
glory, and in the midst of which, and surrounding the throne, were twenty-four elders,
seated upon thrones, and four Living Creatures, with four different faces. The
first like al ion, the second like a calf, the third like the face of a man,
and the fourth like a flying eagle, representing, as we understand it, the
different orders of the redeemed, crowned and uncrowned; the former, the
sanctified saints in heaven, already crowned, and the latter the unsanctified
saints on earth struggling in the flesh. 2
John also saw, in the right hand of him that sat on the
throne, a book written within and without, by the reason of the abundance of
the revelation, or perhaps, as Elliott suggests, the things without being
supplemental to those within.
GENERAL
This book was divided into three parts, the first
containing the seals, the second the trumpets, the third the vials; seven of
each. The seventh seal containing the seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet the
seven vials. At the close of the seals there was an earthquake or upheaval,
announcing a change and introducing and containing the trumpets or judgments. At the close of the trumpets another earthquake or upheaval,
announcing another change, and introducing and containing the vials or last
plagues. At the close of the vials another and greater earthquake or
upheaval, the greatest of all, including the binding of Satan, the Millennium,
the loosing of Satan, the battle of Gog and Magog, the general resurrection and
final judgment.
SEVEN SEALS
Under the seals we have the following symbols: First, a
white horse with its rider, with a bow and a crown given to him, and going
forth conquering and to conquer. Second, a red horse, with
power to kill and take away peace. Third, a black horse with balances,
and a statement of the price of corn, weighed with exactness, on account of
scarcity, but oil and wine to be left; God’s judgments always tempered with
mercy. Fourth, a pale horse, with death sitting on him and
hell following in his train. Fifth, the souls of
martyrs crying for vengeance. Sixth, the great
earthquake, and the sealing of the 144,000, and concluding with the seventh
seal.
INTERPRETATION OF SYMBOLS
The first four seals being under the same symbol of a horse
and rider must refer to the same thing, and represents the
In this general outline we have a corresponding outline in
the history of the world for the first three centuries, till the first great
upheaval in the time of
That the figures thus employed were none too bold to depict
these scenes will appear from the fact that they are the very ones used by the
old prophets in speaking of similar things. Thus Isaiah, in speaking of the
destruction of
The entire suitableness of the figures employed will also
appear in a still stronger light when we remember that beyond and behind all
this we have here given us a typical foreshadowing of impending judgments still
in the future. In this typical overthrow of governments, and the whole world in
consternation and woe, we also have a forecast of coming judgments, set forth
in the trumpets, and even extending to the final destruction of all the enemies
of the Lord and his church. Every rill is but the prophecy of the existence of
the mighty ocean; so every judgment is but the foreshadowing of the final
destruction of all the wicked. We cannot look out upon any object in nature
without seeing objects behind it as a background. As the
Savior, in his description of the destruction of
Here, then, in
this first outlook, reaching to the distant future, we are brought face to face
with all the after judgments set forth in the trumpets and seals that are to be
visited upon all the enemies of the Lord, the past being but the earnest,
prophecy and pledge of all succeeding ones.
SEALING OF THE 144,000
Before the sounding of the trumpets, introducing these
impending judgments, we have the sealing of God’s people, not Jews simply, but
all his elect people, 144,000; a definite for an indefinite sum. 7
As in Egypt, before the destroying angel went forth, the houses of Israel were
first marked; and as in Ezekiel’s vision, the man with the inkhorn first went
through Jerusalem and marked every one who wept and sighed for the abominations
done therein before the man with the sword upon his thigh should pass through;
so the sealing or marking of God’s people must precede these judgments. Thus showing that God will ever take care of his people at all
times, and under all circumstances.
As in the first outlook we have the judgments as already
completed, so we also have the anticipatory giving of thanks, as though the
final victory was likewise achieved. John sees the multitude of victors with
palm branches in their hands, as having already passed through the tribulation
of earth, and now led beside the fountains of living waters, and having all
their tears wiped away by the hand of a loving Father.
Trumpets
After the sealing of the 144,000, the angels with the
trumpets were commanded to sound. The trumpet, the usual signal for war, was
also employed to herald the approach of any important event. Here it was used
to proclaim the coming of those terrible judgments about to be visited upon a
corrupt church and world; for, though seemingly advanced, the church was really
abased by her worldly alliances. The scene was preceded by voices, thunderings,
and an earthquake, all indicative of the unwonted heaviness of those judgments,
and in all of which we have clearly set forth the invasion of the Northern
vandal hordes upon the Roman empire, the then masters of the known world, with
the church of God in her bosom, and as her pretended guardian and protector.
First Trumpet
The first angel sounds, and there followed hail and fire
mingled with blood, which were cast upon the earth, and the third part of the
trees were burned up; that is, a third part of the Roman empire, or the whole,
as a third part of the world. In this we have a striking and most picturesque
description of Alaric and the Goths, who made several incursions into the
country from the North, carrying destruction and ruin in their march
—(395-410)— when he took and sacked and burned the city of Rome.
Second Trumpet
And the second angel sounded, “and as it were a great
mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and the third part of the
sea became blood, and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and
had life died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”
Soon after the depredation of Alaric, Attila, fitly styled
“the scourge of God and man,” with a large army of Huns, ravaged the empire,
for the space of fourteen years, aptly represented by the burning mountain cast
into the sea; in which another third part of the empire was destroyed, or as
the Roman people were estimated about one-third part of the earth, another
third part of the whole is thus fitly spoken of as turned into blood.
Third Trumpet
The third trumpet sounded, and there fell a great star from
heaven as a burning lamp, and it fell upon a third part of the rivers, and upon
the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called “Wormwood”; and a
third part of the waters became wormwood; and men died of the waters because
they were bitter.
Soon after Attila’s retreat, Genseric, with a large army of
300,000 Vandals and Moors from Africa, invaded the empire, and besieged and
took Rome, and abandoned the city to the licentiousness and cruelty of his
soldiers. The bitterness of such an experience may well be termed “Wormwood.”
Genseric being also a bigoted Arian, and a cruel persecuter of the orthodox
Christians, likewise poisoned the fountains, and rendered their bitterness
still more intense.
Fourth Trumpet
The fourth angel sounded, and the fourth part of the sun
was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so
the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. The judgments here reached the
government. If the three preceding
trumpets refer to the disasters sent upon the Roman empire, this trumpet is
then simply the completion of the work; and we here have the final fulfillment
in the complete overthrow of Roman supremacy, and the final establishment of
barbarian dominion under Odoacer, the king of the Heruli, who, coming to Rome
with an army of barbarians, stripped Momylus of the imperial robes, and caused
himself to be proclaimed king of Italy; and thus putting an end to the very
same of the Western empire; fifty represented by the smiting of one-third part
of the sun, moon and stars.
WOE TRUMPETS
The remaining three trumpets are termed “Woe trumpets,” on
account of the intense bitterness connected with them. The four preceding ones
seem to contain woe enough, and bitterness enough, but nothing to be compared
with the three that are to follow, because these blight the soul as well as
destroy the body; and because they were to continue longer, and take in a
larger scope in their vast sweep. The first four trumpets refer chiefly to the
downfall of the Western empire: these last three to the downfall of the
Eastern, to be effected by the influx of the Mohammedan and Turkish hordes, the
setting up of the “Man of Sin,” at first stated in a general way, but
afterwards with more fullness and distinctness.
These trumpets are introduced with an angel flying through
mid-heaven, and saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of
the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels yet
to sound.”
Fifth Trumpet – (First Woe Trumpet)
The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven
unto the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit, and there
arose a smoke, which darkened the sun and air, and out of the smoke came
locusts, to which was given power as to scorpions, and to hurt only those who
had not the seal of God in their foreheads. They should not kill, but only
torment for five months. And their torment was the torment of a scorpion. And
in those days men desired to die, but death fled from them. The shapes of the
locusts were like horses prepared for battle. They had a crown on their heads,
and faces of men. Their hair as that of women, and teeth of lions, and
breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings like the sound of chariots
of many horses running to battle, and had tails like scorpions, and stings in
their tails; and had power to hurt men five months. And they had a king over
them whose name was Abaddon in Hebrew, but Apollyon in Greek.
This trumpet is generally conceded to have reference to the
Mohammedan or Saracenic conquests; the Mohammedan leaders represented by the
star, and the Arabian army by the locusts; with faces like men, but long,
flowing, uncut hair like women, indicative of the fierceness of their nature;
with the sting of scorpions in their tails, poisoning men with the destructive
doctrines of the Koran; their power to torment being five months, equal to one
hundred and fifty days or years, just the length of the Mohammedan conquests,
extending from A.D. 612 to 762.
“One woe is past, behold there cometh two more woes
hereafter.”
Sixth Trumpet - (Second Woe Trumpet)
The sixth angel sounded, and with greater solemnity, as a
still greater woe was coming, and as coming from the “four corners of the
altar,” as the place of the guilt. The angel with the trumpet was ordered to
loose the four angels bound in the great river
We are not long in finding an event in history and the
world at that time, agreeing precisely with this description. The Mohammedan or
Saracenic conquest was followed by that of the Turks, a people of the same
general spirit and character; hence the similarity of the description. There
were four Sultans (the four angels) arising at different times, but at last
uniting in the same work, and these angels were at first bound or held back in
their conquests by the Crusades. The description, too, exactly suited their
horsemen, and the fierceness and celerity of their conquests. They had power in
their horses` tails as well as heads, as they carried the teachings of Mohammed
with them, thus stinging men with their teachings, as with the sting of a
scorpion. Their number two myriads, or
In this conquest the Romans were in a measure protected by
the armies of the Crusaders. So it is added: “the rest of the men, that is, the
Romans, not killed with these plagues, and who were not deterred by them,
repented not of the works of their hands, but continued to worship devils, and
idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which can neither see
nor hear nor walk.”
In this particular case, as in the preceding trumpet, the
description given and the developed facts seem wonderfully to agree.
A PAUSE
Before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, introducing the
third and last great woe, there is a pause in the vision to introduce “The Little
Book,” with its account of the slaying of the witnesses. The arrest was made
with the statement that the mystery of God connected with the last great woe
would not yet or then be revealed, as the time was not yet (
) but would be at the sounding of the seventh
trumpet.
THE LITTLE BOOK (THE
REFORMATION.)
John saw a
mighty angel come down from heaven, with a little open book in his hand, which,
upon his request, was given him with instruction to eat it, which he did; but
soon found it, as the angel had foretold, both sweet as honey to his mouth, but
all bitterness within, and also the added instruction, “Thou must prophecy
again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” A very striking
statement indeed, as, before the Reformation, preaching had fallen into disuse,
the mass and other ceremonial observances having wholly taken its place.
In looking for the fulfillment of this symbol we are at
once reminded of the Reformation in the time of Luther and his coadjutors in
the preaching of the true gospel preparatory to and connected with the second
great upheaval. In this preaching of the gospel there was a striking admixture
of bitter things with much that was exceedingly sweet.
SLAYING OF THE WITNESSES
In this connection we have the measuring of the temple, the
casting out of the apostatized portion, and giving up the court without to the
Gentiles, who were to tread it under foot forty-two months; that is, twelve
hundred and sixty days, or years, during which time the two witnesses should prophecy;
not two men, or even two peoples, who were to live that long, but the
continuation of faithful witnesses; and two, because that number was required
by the Mosaic law to establish any fact. These should prophecy clothed in
sackcloth; and when they shall have finished, or about to finish, their
testimony- or finished at least so far as the purpose was concerned, for they
are bearing testimony, and always will- the beast, that was to ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and to be afterwards described, would slay them, and leave
their bodies unburied for three days and a half in the streets of the city
spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, the former on account of its wickedness,
and the latter on account of its oppression; and after three days and a half would
come to life again and ascend up unto heaven.
Some, like Scott, that prince of interpreters, and
following Bishop Newton, have held that the matters here spoken of are yet in
the future; but it does seem that the events happening since their day show
them to be mistaken, and too clearly prove that the time is past for the
fulfillment of this part of the prophecy. These two witnesses obviously were
slain with the suppression of the gospel in 1514, when the whole world was
under Popish authority, and when at the Council of Constance the orator of the
occasion, at the ninth session, May 5th of that year, could and did
say, “Jam nemo reclamat nullus obsistet” (No one now denies, no one opposes)...
But the witnesses were not buried, nor really dead, for it was on the 21st
of October, 1518, only three years afterwards, that Luther nailed his theses to
the church’s door posts at Wittenberg, when the witnesses came to life again,
and have been living and testifying ever since; and taken up to God, not in the
sense of leaving the world, but in the sense of being kept and preserved by
him, never again to be silenced or put to death.
SECOND GREAT EARTHQUAKE
After the resurrection of the two witnesses, and in
connection with it, there was a second great earthquake or upheaval, when a
tenth part of the city fell, and of men, ten thousand were slain, and the
remnant were affrighted and gave glory to God; all fulfilled in the Reformation
in Luther’s day, which was truly a great upheaval, in which there was a great loss
to, and falling away from, the doctrines of Popery, and when the British Isles,
one of the ten minor kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided, came out
from under the Romish yoke.
At this stage of the prophecy the
announcement is made, “The second woe is past, and behold a third woe cometh
quickly.”
Seventh Trumpet – (Third Woe Trumpet)
As the third woe is the largest and longest in continuance,
and had already commenced, and needed a more minute description, the
announcement is here simply made that the seventh angel sounded his trumpet,
and the result given as already accomplished, as well as a general outlook, and
in the following terms:
“And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices
in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our
Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And, as anticipating
the final result, the heavenly hosts fell on their faces and worshipped God,
saying, “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.”
Here with this general outlook, in which the final
anticipatory triumph of the church is asserted, the first part of the book
closes.
THIRD GREAT WOE
After this glowing doxology the prophecy goes back a little
to give a fuller account of the great woe of which mention has already been
made, and of things written “without” the book, as Elliot suggests. As the
Papacy is clearly the great woe, and had already been in existence for
centuries before this time, the prophecy goes back to give a fuller account of
its origin, rise, and progress. We have this account in Chapter xii.
WONDER IN HEAVEN
John saw, in the firmamental heaven, a woman clothed with
the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars upon
her head, all indicative of majesty, and about to be delivered of a child;
whilst a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns
upon his heads, and with his tail drawing the third part of the stars of
heaven, was standing before the woman ready to devour the child as soon as
born. The woman brought forth a man child, who was to rule the nations with a
rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and his throne; and the woman
fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that they
should feed her there for a thousand two hundred and three score days.
He also saw, in this connection, Satan, spoken of as a
dragon, cast out of the firmamental heaven, where previously seen as the great
Adversary and accuser of the brethren; and now, being cast out, began
persecuting the woman, casting out water out of his mouth, and seeking to
destroy her; but God gave her two great wings, by which she fled into the
wilderness, and where she was “nourished for a time and times and a half,” that
is, three and a half years, or 1,260 days.
These two visions seem clearly to refer to the same event;
the first being anticipatory of the second; the first stating in general terms
what is more fully explained in the second, the woman being the same and
representing the church in both instances, and the child her prospective
increase and enlargement.
THE RED DRAGON - (
The Red Dragon, with its seven heads or forms of
government, and ten horns or kingdoms , is clearly
Rome Pagan, as generally admitted, even by Papists. Satan and the Dragon are
interchangeably used, because he works through the Dragon. As he is called “the
old serpent,” because he first appeared to our first parents in the garden in
the form of a serpent, and worked through the serpent, so here he is the Red
Dragon because he entered the Red Dragon and worked through it. And the name is
the more appropriate as the Dragon was the original standard of the Roman
legions; and because, as the Red Dragon,
The further continuance and progress of this struggle
between the woman and her adversaries are set forth in the rising of two
beasts, or enemies, one from the sea, the other from the earth, against both of
which she must contend.
First Beast – (
The first beast is described as coming out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon the horns ten crowns, and upon these
heads “the name of blasphemy.” The beast was like unto a leopard, his feet as
the feet of a bear, his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the Dragon gave him
his power and his seat and his great authority. One of his heads was wounded as
unto death, but his deadly wound was healed, and all the
world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the Dragon and worshipped
the beast, saying, “Who is like unto the beast, and who is able to make war
with him?” And unto him was given a mouth speaking great things, and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty-two months. And it
was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was
given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. And all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.
If the Red Dragon be Rome Pagan, as interpreters, and even
Papists themselves generally admit, then it is but a step, and an easy one at
that, to the conclusion, that this first beast was Rome Christian; that is, the
same power as before; in other words, the Red Dragon with the form of
Christianity engrafted upon it; for it derived its seat and all its power and
authority from the Dragon. In other words, this first beast was the same
Dragon, modified and held in check by the elements of this new religion.
Notice the description, how sharply drawn, and how applicable
to
Notice, too, the Dragon had seven crowns upon his seven
heads; that is, had his power within himself. But this beast differs in this, that his crowns, ten in number, are not upon his
heads, as in the case of the Dragon, but upon his horns, showing his authority
being not within himself, but as coming from the kingdoms composing the empire.
He also had the additional name of “Blasphemy,” growing out of the engrafted
and perverted abuses of the religious element.
Further, one of the heads, the sixth (the emperor) was
wounded “unto death,” representing the entire subversion of imperial authority
in the time of Augustulus, when Rome became a Dukedom, subject to the Exarchate
of Ravenna; but afterwards healed in the revival of the imperial name and
dignity, in the person of Charlemagne, who was proclaimed Augustus. And this
beast withal had all the characteristics of the different animals; the leopard,
bear, and lion, because he had the same spirit and power of the former kingdom.
He was to “practice” and continue to exercise his power for forty-two months.
What other power ever existed, agreeing at all with this description?
Second Beast – (
The prophet saw a second beast. The first he saw had seven
heads and ten horns; but this one had only two horns, and was like a lamb. The first
beast came up out of the sea; out of the wars and tumults of the world. This
last comes silently up, like a plant out of the earth. This second beast
exerciseth all the power of the first that had been healed. He also doeth
wonders; maketh fire to come down from heaven in sight of men, and deceiveth by
means of those miracles, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they
should make an image of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and did
live, and that no man should buy or sell, without the mark and number of the
beast; the mark being put, either “upon the forehead,” as evidence of
profession, or “on the hand,” in token of service.
If the first beast be Rome Christian, then the second can
be nothing else than Rome Papal, or the Romish hierarchy; for he is connected
with the first beast, being its legitimate offspring, and which he has caused
all men to worship. The further description also fixes this interpretation, as
it had two horns, viz., the two orders of her clergy, or two sources of her
power, secular and spiritual. Its identification also with the image to be made
proves the same thing, as we shall see.
Image of the Beast
We do not agree with
We see, therefore-
1st, Why the name of
the monster is always “beast,” and never “beasts”; although spoken of as three,
they are really but one.
2nd, Why the name of
the monster is always “beast,” and never “beasts”; although spoken of as three,
they are really but one.
3rd, Herein, too, is the answer to the
objections that have been raised: that the forty-two months, as the time given
for the existence of the beast, as well as what is said concerning the shedding
of the blood of the saints, is affirmed only of the first beast; and further,
that Popery cannot be both the Woman and the beast she was riding; the point of
these objections being to relieve the Papacy of all complicity with the beast,
and all participation in its guilt. The answer to it all is found in their
essential unity. What is true of the one is true of all the others. The signature of any one of a firm being the signature of the
whole.
4th, We likewise can
see why the second beast puts the mark and number of the entire beast upon all
the subjects of the kingdom, because it stands and acts as the representative
and accredited agent of the whole.
5th, We will also see, as we further proceed,
the exact fitness of the suggestive name as given the beast, viz., “The Latin
Man,” because Latin, in all of its transformations, whether pagan, Christian,
or Papal.
Number of the Name
The number of the name as given is 666. “Here is wisdom;
let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the
number of a man”; that is, a name, the number of the numerical value of its
letters would amount to 666. As a challenge is here given, it is no evidence of
presumption should we attempt, at least, to find out the number, especially as
it is so closely linked with the intolerance of the beast, no one being allowed
or tolerated, unless bearing the same. Now it is a remarkable fact that the
name Lateinos, The Latin Man, the name of the fourth kingdom seen by Daniel,
makes 666, both in Greek and Hebrew. This solution was first suggested by
Irenaeus, as far back as the second century, and some three centuries before
the rise of the beast. Says he, “Lateinos8 has the number 666, and
it is a very probable solution, this being the name of the last kingdom of the
four seen by Daniel.” (
Here we have,
to say the least of it, a most singular thing, that the same name should have
the same numerical value in both Greek and Hebrew, the two languages in which
the Scriptures were written.9
Ere the declaration of the downfall of this beast, known as
the mystical Babylon, and for the encouragement of God’s people, the prophet
again sees the 144,000 already sealed, standing upon mount Zion with the Lamb,
and singing a new song; and also another angel flying through the midst of
heaven, with commission to preach the everlasting gospel to every nation
kindred, tongue, and tribe.
In quick succession, another angel follows, crying, “
Then follows the third angel, saying with a loud voice, and by way of
warning or caveat, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his
mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is poured without mixture into the cup of his indignation.”
Thus, not only is the great city to be destroyed, but,
according to the commission of the third angel, the curse shall even extend to
all the worshippers of the beast, in every place and in every land.
The world not being influenced by the warning of these
three angels, then follows by anticipation the
prophetic description of the execution of the threatened judgments. This is set
forth under the figure of a harvest or vintage; as much as to say, that the
destruction, when it does come, will be so terrible, and the blood shed so
abundantly, that, like the wine pressed from the grapes in the vintage, the
stream would reach even to the horses` bridles; and this to extend “a thousand
and six hundred furlongs,” or two hundred miles, the exact length of the old
papal dominions. How terrific the judgments yet to be visited upon the idolatrous
and wicked city!
Seven Last Plagues
After these prophetic warnings and delays, as if loath to
issue the order for the execution of the sentence, one of the four Living
Creatures gave the seven vials, containing the seven last plagues to the seven angels,
with instructions to empty them upon the earth.
First Vial
In obedience to the above instruction, the first angel
poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a grievous sore upon the man
that had the mark of the beast, and them which worshipped his image. This sore
or running ulcer, similar to one of the plagues of Egypt, was but the fit
emblem of, and fulfilled in, the blatant infidelity, national and individual,
social disorder and moral corruption of France in the latter part of the eighteenth
century; and just before, and preparatory to, the great revolution which shook
all Europe to its centre. Thus poured out upon
Second Vial
The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, as the
other upon the earth; upon the sea as the representative of the turbulent
seething masses of men; and, as in another of the plagues of
Third Vial
The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of waters, and they also became blood; this being but a continuation
of the same judgments as in the two preceding vials, only more general, now
permeating the whole land, and reaching even to individuals and communities, as
well as to the centers of governments. The revolution, local at first, soon
became general, and, like an ocean upheaval, covering all
Fourth Vial
The fourth angel poured his vial upon the sun, and giving
him power to scorch men with fire. In accordance with the general, and we may
say the invariable interpretation of this symbol, the sun and moon standing for
governments and rulers, this pouring out of a vial upon the sun, must mean
nothing more than military rule or despotism; and if Napoleon and his military
contemporaries did not scorch the world, it will never be again. Without
enlarging, we point to the Napoleonic wars and the devastation and accompanying
terrors and dismay that followed, and reaching all the governments of
Fifth Vial
The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the
beast, and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues, and
blasphemed the God of heaven; all of which was most strikingly fulfilled,
beginning in 1798, when Rome fell into the hand of the French army, and the
Vatican was robbed of its works of art, and the Pope compelled to flee; again
repeated in 1868, when Victor Emanuel disrobed the Papal See of all temporal
power, and Rome was thrown open to all the world. And later still, in 1900, in
the disasters upon
Sixth Vial
The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the river
Before the pouring out of the seventh vial we have an
account of the preparation for the final great struggle between the church and
her enemies. Three unclean spirits like frogs are seen going forth to gather
all the kings of the earth, with all their forces, to a place, called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon. As the battle is no real battle, but simply a
struggle of principle, so no particular locality is intended, but simply a
place of destruction, as the word seems to mean “Mountain of Megiddo”; so
designated from Megiddo, the place that witnessed the slaughter of the
Canaanites in the days of Barak, when the stars fought in their courses against
Sisera (Judg. V. 19), as well as the scene of the defeat of Josiah, and the
great lamentation which followed. (2 Chron. Xxxv. 23-25.)
Three Unclean Spirits
The sources from whence these unclean spirits proceed show
the work to be done, as well as the agents to be employed.
1. One is to proceed form the mouth of the
dragon; that is,
2. The second from the mouth of the beast;
that is, Rome Pseduochristian. In the union of church and state under
Constantine, instead of a friend, the church only found, in her pretended ally,
a bitter, relentless foe, a very beast indeed, sordid, fierce, corrupt, preying
upon her flesh, and drinking her very life’s blood. This symbol finds its
interpretation in every unholy alliance of Church and state, as well as in the
different forms of worldly entanglements and associations, leading alike to her
enslavement and ruin.
3. The third from the mouth of the False
Prophet; that is, Rome Papal, the pretended expositor of the word, and yet the
great perverter of the truth. This symbol points to the different pervertings
and obscurings of the truth as the third method to be employed.
Here then, in
these three suggestive symbols, we have the different methods to be used by the
adversary in the last great struggle.
1st,
He will, as far as possible, continue to keep the world under the chains of heathenish
darkness and away from the knowledge of Christ, ever seeking to drown every
uplifted and opposing voice, with the old cry, “Great is Diana of the
Ephesians.”
2nd,
He will seek to weaken and destroy the influence and power of the church,
directly if possible, by the use of Caesar’s sword; if not, just as
effectively, though more stealthily, by means of worldly entanglements and
alliances.
3rd,
By false and heretical teaching; if not entirely to deny and disown, to degrade
the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, by covering it up in a mass of worthless
forms and ceremonies, so as to rob it of its power or else secure the same end
by human additions and substitutions, calculated only to deceive and to lead to
destruction.
In the setting
up of these and similar golden calves in different parts of the kingdom, these
croaking spirits are ever calling to the people, and saying, “These by thy
gods, O Israel,” and thus preparing for the final struggle, which is to result
in the destruction of the beast and False Prophet, as well as all the other
enemies of the Lord. The time for this destruction is not now given; but we
have an anticipatory description of it further on, in Chapter xix. 17-21. Only this caveat is here added: “Behold I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”
Seventh Vial
The seventh angel poured out his vial in the air
(universal), followed by thunderings, lightnings, and the final great
earthquake or upheaval, that is to usher in the Millennium; described as the
greatest earthquake men have ever seen, or ever will see; when the great city
is to be divided into three parts, cities of nations are to fall, and the great
Babylon will come for remembrance before God; and when the last judgment, like
hail of the size of a talent, shall be visited upon the earth.
After the pouring out of these vials, we have presented a
more extended and minute account of the great city of Babylon, spoken of as the
great whore, or apostate church, the mother of abominations, with whom the
kings of the earth have committed fornications; and also the judgments to be
visited upon her.
This apostate or persecuting church is presented as a
woman, drunk with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs, and
as a woman seated upon a scarlet beast, full of the name of blasphemies, having
seven heads and ten horns; the same as heretofore mentioned. And the woman was
arrayed with gold and precious stones and pearls, insomuch as to excite the
astonishment of John, which the angel sought to allay with the question,
“Wherefore didst thou marvel?” I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of
the beast that carrieth her.” The following is the description and
interpretation as given by the angel.
Description
“The beast thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend
out of the bottomless pit.”
“The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman
sitteth; and there are seven kings; five are fallen, one is, and the other is not
yet, and when he cometh he must continue a short space. And the beast that was,
and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into
perdition.”
“The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these
shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her
flesh, and burn her with fire.”
“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which
reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
The above description and interpretation, easily and
unmistakably find their fulfillment in the Romish church, and nowhere else.
The Man of Sin
That the
Papacy is this apostate church, elsewhere Styled the “Antichrist,” and “Man of
Sin,” the culmination and embodiment of the Dragon, and first and second
beasts, and as such, the image and representative of the whole, will appear
from the following considerations:
1. From the very name, “Catholic,” which
means universal, at one time the only church, and
therefore the only church to become universally apostate.
2. It agrees with the time and place set
for its appearance. It was to come out of one of the ten kingdoms of the fourth
monarchy. Daniel speaks of it as “the little horn,” with eyes, coming up in the
midst of, and during the existence of the ten kingdoms into which the fourth
kingdom was to be divided. If so, then the time and place for its appearance
have both passed.
So the order
and succession are given. First the Chaldean, then the Medopersian, then the
Macedonian, then the Roman, acknowledged by all, even the Papists, as the red
dragon with seven heads and ten horns with seven crowns upon its seven heads;
then the first beast, with its seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon
its ten horns; then the beast with two horns, like a lamb but speaking as a
dragon; then lastly, the image and representative of the whole. In each remove
the succeeding form not only takes the place, but also inherits the seat and
power of its predecessor. The Dragon gave his seat and power to the beast with
seven heads and ten horns (Chap. Xiii. 2) , and the
woman in scarlet was afterwards seen seated upon, and riding the same. Rome
Papal is but the continuation of Rome Pagan. The modern city is built on the
ruins, with much of the same material, and garnished and adorned with many of
the works of art of the ancient; the image of St. Peter itself being the old
image of Jupiter, with the two keys substituted for the thunderbolts of the former.11
As the
time and place for its appearance, and the order of the succession, are given,
and with such definiteness, if this be not the Antichrist, then there can be
none in the future, unless this same order and succession return, and the
Dragon,- that is Pagan Rome,- be again brought to
life; a thing too unreasonable to be entertained for a moment.
3. It has all the characteristics ascribed to the
Antichrist.
(a). It was to be in the
church. “Sitting in the
(b). It was to be a great power ruling the nations
of the earth. “And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and
nations.” Was there ever a greater nation than
(c). It was to be a persecuting power, making war upon the saints,
shedding the blood of the same, and so abundantly as to be “drunk with blood.”
To say nothing about the ten awful persecutions under Rome Pagan, in which it
is estimated that fifty millions of martyrs were slain, the victims of Rome
Papal have simply been astonishing. Witness the horrors of the Inquisition, the
innocent slaughtering of St. Bartholomew, the bloody cruelties of the Duke of
Alva, and the bitter persecutions of the Waldenses, which moved the pen of
“Avenge, O Lord, they slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains
cold;
E’en them,
who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks
and stones,
Forget not; in thy book record their
groans,
Who were thy sheep, and in their
ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant
down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and
they
To heaven.
Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O’er the Italian fields, where still
doth away
The triple tyrant; that from these may
grow
An hundredfold, who, having learnt thy
way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.”
“It is estimated that in the war with Albigenses and
Waldenses, there perished of these poor creatures, in
It is
true that these were not all put to death by the Papacy, any more than Christ
was crucified by the Jews; but by instigators alike. “Quid
facit per alium, facit per se.” Whatever he does by another he does
himself. It was the first beast that was to make war on the saints, and to
overcome them. (Ch. Xiii. 7; Dan. Vii.
26.) But the first beast was agent of the second, and the second
approved and endorsed all the deeds of the first and became its accomplice.
There is such a thing as a sinner by endorsement, as well as actual
transgression; so all the bloodshed of the first was added to that of its own.
(d), It was to be a
blasphemous power. “Blasphemies upon her heads.”
“Sitting in the
We give the following quotations in proof of this high
assumption: “Tu enim pastor, tu medicus, tu gubernator, tu denique alter dues
in terries.” Thou art a shepherd, thou art a
physician, thou art a ruler; in one word, thou art another God. 14 “Consider ate esse vicarium Christi, Christum
Domini.” Consider thyself to be the vicar of
Christ, the Christ of God. “Honorem qui debetur Christo, secundum quod Deus est, deberi, papae; quia honor debetur potestati, sed uno
est potestas Christi, secundum quod deus est, et papae.” The honor which is due
to Christ, because he is God, belongs likewise to the Pope; for honor is due to
authority; but the same authority belonging to Christ, because he is God,
belongs likewise to the pope. “Deus, quia Dei vicarious.”
God, because the vicar of God. 15 What blasphemies!
To say, then,
that we are to have another antichrist in the future, with the same
characteristics, is simply that we are to have two antichrists identically the
same; a thing as unscriptural as it is unreasonable.
4. Notice other peculiarities mentioned with great
minuteness by the angel, and which find their fulfillment nowhere else. “The
seven heads are seven mountains,” or hills,
5. The Number of the name
furnishes additional proof “Lateinos,” the name of the last kingdom, as we have
seen, aggregating, in the numerical value of its letters, the prophetic number
666.
6. The same also appears from the fulfillment of the
prophecies concerning the judgments to be sent upon it. First, those set forth
in the first four trumpets, and secondly, in those in the sixth vial poured out
upon the seat of the beast. These have been and are now being poured out.
7. Also in the fulfillment thus far of the saying, that
these kings would at last turn against her and eat up her flesh, as was the
case in the British Isles, when she renounced Papal authority; and later in
France, in the revolution, when thousands of priests were put to death; and
later still, even in Italy, herself, the Pope being a prisoner to-day in the
Vatican, upon his own confession, and in her very bosom.
8. The condition of the world precludes all possibility of
another man of sin, another apostate church, of the same characteristics, ever
again arising with power to bring the whole world under its corrupting
influence and crucifying power, requiring, as it would, centuries for its
growth and development. Before this could be, the whole world of necessity must
again be brought under the arbitrary sway of another, if not
the same Caesar, which neither Scripture nor reason will for a single
moment allow. Nothing less than a miracle will ever again place the ruling
power of the world in the hand of any single man or nation. Up to the time of
the Papacy the world was ruled by Caesar; but from then till now a struggle has
been going on, which will result in the reversal of the order, and in the
subjugation of Caesar to the church. In the end the church is to be the
dominant power in the world, controlling her kingdoms and governments; not,
however, by the mistaken scheme of union of church and state, but by the
dissemination of her pure and holy principles, which, like leaven, are yet to
leaven the whole earth.
9. The testimony of the interpreting angel. To make the
matter so plain as to leave no room for doubt or misapprehension, the angel
adds, “The woman thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings
of the earth.” Nothing could make the description more complete.
10. The whole is confirmed by the consensus of opinion. The
early fathers generally identified the little horn of Daniel with Paul’s man of
sin; and this sentiment has been growing ever since, and is now commonly held
by the Protestant world.
11. The commingling of so many minute and unusual
particulars, and the merging of the whole into such a strange compound, which finds
its parallel in nothing else, and running through so many centuries, forever
fixes the interpretation, and as unmistakably points to the true Antichrist, as
the footprints in the sand determine the owner and wearer of the shoe.
In opposition to all this we are told:
1st, That Antichrist
means against Christ, the preposition anti meaning against, and one that denies
Christ; whereas the Papacy neither denies Christ nor is against him.
2nd, That the historic
facts do not agree with the prophetic dates, neither as to the time of taking
away the daily sacrifice, nor the length of the profanation.
3rd, That what is said concerning the shedding
of the blood of the saints, as well as the time of the existence of the beast,
refers to the first beast or antichristian Rome, and not the Papacy.
As to the alleged disagreement between the facts and the
dates, I must refer him to what I have to say upon this point further on.
Concerning the name, Antichrist, I have now to say that the
word does not necessarily mean against Christ. The preposition anti has two
meanings, either against, or for, that is, in the place of another. (See Schleusner’s Lex.) In this sense
it is frequently used in composition of proper names, as Elliott has shown
(Vol. 1., 67). According to that meaning, Antichrist
would be one who claims to be the agent or representative of Christ, or, so to
speak, a Vice-Christ. As the world occurs nowhere else except in the New
Testament, and only in John’s epistles, and there only four times, why may not
that be the meaning here?
But admit the meaning to be in the sense of against,
as generally understood, still the objection has no force; for may not a man really be against, though seemingly in favor,
of a person or thing? Witness the strange and apparently contradictory
statement of the apostle Paul, “Some preach the gospel, even of envy.” (Phil. i. 15.) Witness Peter’s
unquestioned zeal in defending his master, with the accompanying rebuke, “Get
thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not the
things that be of God.” (Matt. xvi.
23.) Witness a similar mistaken zeal on the part of James and John, in asking
for fire to come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans, and the sharp
rebuke that followed: “Ye know not what Manner of spirit ye are of.” (Luke ix. 54.) Witness the untiring and even greater zeal
still of the Scribes and Pharisees of old, compassing sea and land to make one
proselyte, coupled with the unsparing denunciation of the Master, which
seemingly only increases in intensity with the increase of zeal: “Ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the damnation of hell”? (Matt. xxiii. 33.)
There is such a thing as “having zeal, but not according to
knowledge”; such a thing as saying and doing great things with flourish of
trumpets, and yet to no purpose; such a thing as speaking with the tongue of
angels and of men; having faith to remove mountains; giving all one’s goods to
feed the poor, and even the body to be burned, and yet, in the end all
“sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.” (I Cor.
xiii. 1-3.) There is such a thing as prophesying in the name of the
Lord, casting out devils in the name of the Lord, and doing many and wonderful
works in the name of the Lord, and yet being driven away at last, as “workers
of iniquity,” and that too with the still more striking announcement, “I never
knew you.” (Matt. vii. 22, 23.) Yea, more,- and the
Master’s word for it,- there is even such a thing as being “False Christs,” and
with power to show signs, work wonders, and to deceive many. (Matt.
xxiv. 24.)
It is very easy, then, to see how a church may far
outstrip all others in her charities and self-sacrificing labors, and after all
be an apostate church; the very mention of its possibility being a prophecy of
its existence; and if apostate, what else but antichrist?
Another rule is applicable here. The Savior lays it down as
a basic principle of his kingdom, that he and his disciples are one. Whatever
is done to them is done to
Him. Give but the cup of cold water to a disciple, and it is given
him. So to persecute his people is to persecute him. “Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me?” To be against the disciple is to be against him. How,
then, can a persecuting church, “drunk with the blood of saints,” be anything
more or less than Antichrist?
Then, there is still another sense in which a man can be
against Christ without openly fighting him, and that
is by sitting in his seat, and claiming his honors and prerogatives. This is to
be against him, as well as to deny and reject him. This is what Popery has
done. It makes the Pope the Vicar and Vicegerent of Christ. For it is only upon
this ground he bases his claim to infallibility. It is as the Vicar of Christ,
sitting in his seat, he claims homage, requiring kings to how in humble
supplication and kiss his feet, being addressed as “His Holiness,” “My Lord God
the Pope,” and even worshipped as another God, as in days past, and as
previously shown. As Vicar he claims the power of dethroning kings, as he has
done in scores of instances; of granting indulgences, as well as absolution of
sins; the power of carrying the keys, and of opening and shutting the gates of
Paradise; the power of making and enforcing laws and decrees. For how can the representative of God be subject either to man or
his laws? He who is the Vicar of Christ must absolutely be above law. Paul
describes his case exactly when he speaks of him as the “lawless one”
(<foreign>): the one not under, nor subject to law. (2 Thess. ii. 8.) And what is all this but robbing
Christ of his rights and crown? And what is a usurper but an Antichrist?
This usurpation may also extend to erroneous
teachings, as well as assumption of power. To preach any thing but what Christ
has taught is to be against him; for it is tearing down his authority and kingdom
by setting up another, different and opposite. This is what the Papists have
done; placing for the doctrines of Christ the commandments of men; such as
baptismal regeneration, worshipping saints and images, praying to and for the
dead, purgatory, Mariolatry, auricular confession, penance, canonization of
saints, mass for the dead, immaculate conception, forbidding to marry, and
denying the cup to the laity.
Schleusner, therefore, correctly
defines the word when he says, “The word antichrist, in John, and to this the
old Fathers agree, stands for the whole crowd of false teachers and false
apostles.” (Lex. in loc.)
The open enemy, who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh, is indeed an
antichrist, but not the only one, of whom, as John says, there are many.
Equally so is every false teacher, and every usurper, claiming either to be
Christ or to be in the place of Christ.
Lamentation over the Fall
After the description of the great city, we have presented
to us the great lamentation over its fall; symbolically set forth by the angel
casting the millstone into the sea, and formally declaring its perpetual
destruction.
Then follows the rejoicing in heaven, and rendering thanks
to God, over the destruction of the great enemy of God and man, as already
accomplished; for in prophecy distant things are spoken of as present; together
with an anticipatory allusion to the future marriage of the Lamb to his
heavenly bride. As no account of the marriage is given, the nuptials to take
place after the new heaven and new earth have been set up, of which mention is
made in the next chapter.
Destruction of Remaining Enemies
After this we have a sublime description of the Faithful
and True, riding upon a white horse, having many crowns upon his head, with his
vesture dipped in blood, and his eyes a
flame of fire, with a sharp sword out of his mouth, with the armies in
heaven following upon white horses, and clothed in fine linen, white and clean,
going forth conquering and to conquer, extending his kingdom with the
destruction of his enemies, and with this superbly royal title emblazoned upon
his thigh, “KING OF KINGS,
In connection with this slaughter, an angel is seen
standing in the sun, and calling to all the fowls of the air to come and eat
the flesh of kings and captains and mighty men.
John saw, that in this great struggle, the beast and kings
of the earth, gathered together to make war upon him that sat on the horse and
against his army; but that 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 that worshipped his image. These both were cast
alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone. The remnant
were also slain, and all the fowls were satisfied with their flesh. All indicative of the final and universal spread and triumph of the
gospel, as well as the destruction of all the enemies of the Lord.
After the destruction of the beast and false prophet, and all
the other enemies of the Lord, Satan himself was bound with a chain and cast
into the bottomless pit, not, as Professor Milligan strangely interprets,16 that Satan is always bound to the Christian,
and always loose to the sinner, but that his power was put under actual
restraint, and that for a thousand years, which constitutes what is known as
the Millennium.
The Millennium
We understand the Millennium literally as a thousand years
of rest and peace, and not simply a symbolic portraiture of the intermediate
state, as Professor Warfield would have us believe. 17 That there
will be such a period of rest and peace we doubt not, as this will be but the
natural sequence from the binding and imprisonment of Satan. Besides, we have
the positive statement, as well as the general analogy of scripture to guide
us. “The kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most High.” (Dan. vii. 27.) “The heathen shall be given for an
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.” (Ps. ii. 8.) “The earth is to be full of the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. xi. 9)
So from analogy, as the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, the seventh seventh
is the sabbatic year, and the seventh sabbatic the year of Jubilee, we would
naturally expect the seventh thousand of the world to be a millennium of rest.
There is an old tradition, two hundred years before Christ, that the world is
to continue 6,000 years; 2,000 years before the law; 2,000 under the law; and
2,000 under the Messiah. And ever since the days of Irenaeus, the idea has
currently obtained in the Christian church, that the seventh thousand would be
the sabbatic thousand.
Concerning this Millennium, we are not to understand that
everybody will be converted. The wheat and tares will always continue to grow
together to the end of time. “Many shall be purified, but the wicked will do
wickedly,” says Daniel xii. 10. But simply that all organized opposition to the
gospel will be done away with; the principles of Christianity will prevail; the
authority of the scriptures be recognized. Instead of war, political questions
will be settled by arbitration. When the conscience of the world is aroused as
it should, and yet will be, the nations of the earth will feel that they are
the “nation’s keeper,” as every man his “brother’s keeper,” and will no more
allow internecine wars, between nations, than individual broils are now
permitted on the streets by the bystanders.
Whether Christ is to come at the beginning of the
Millennium, and reign in person on earth during this period, with his saints,
who are to be raised from the dead; or whether he will not come till the end of
the world as judge, is a question which has long divided the world,
Premillennialists holding the former view, Postmillennialists the latter. As I
will, further on, and somewhat at length, discuss this question, I will now
only say this much: that I cannot believe that the language is to be understood
literally, and that either the martyrs, or any part of the dead, are to be raised
up at the beginning, or rest of the dead at the termination, of the thousand
years; but figuratively, viz., that during the Millennium the martyr spirit
will return, and be honored, and represented as being put upon thrones; and
that after that the old spirit of ungodliness and persecution will return, when
Satan will be said to be again turned loose.
Satan Loosed
After the thousand years Satan is to be loosed for a
season, and go forth to deceive the nations. The world is again to become
wicked and degenerate. If the binding of Satan is to produce the Millenium, his
release will again restore the world to its former wicked state. Hence the
inquiry of the Master, “When the Son of man shall come, shall he find faith on
the earth?” Also his emphatic declaration, “As in the days that were before the
flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until
the day that Noah entered the ark, … so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be.”
Some time after the Millennium,- how long we know not,-
will be the final struggle, when Satan shall seek to regain his lost supremacy,
by stirring up the world and his associates everywhere, to make war against the
saints, for so largely invading his domains during his imprisonment. But God
shall send fire from heaven and consume all the aiders
and abettors of the unholy crusade, and the devil that deceived them shall be
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet
are, to be tormented forever.
Resurrection and Judgment
After this, but when, no man knoweth, not even the Son, but
only the Father, will be the Resurrection and Judgment.
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on
it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no
place for them. And I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before God. And
the books were opened- (no new matter to be introduced)-
and another book was opened, which was the book of life; and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works.”
After all this the new heaven and new earth will appear.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” This was the new heaven and
new earth in which righteousness was to dwell, of which Peter speaks, and which
manifestly did not appear till after the Millennium.
The Heavenly City
The prophecy most fitly and beautifully concludes with a
dramatic description of the heavenly city, in connection with the new heaven
and new earth, wit its pearly gates, its sapphired
walls, its dazzling splendor, its burning glory. As the inspired volume begins
with the
———————————————————————
1 Greek 
not 
, as in
other places, for the real heaven. The reader will bear this distinction in
mind, as it runs through the entire book.
2 That the living creatures are the symbol of the church on earth appears:
1. Scene located in the firmament, and not real heaven, as stated above.
2. Animal nature a fit emblem of unsanctified human nature.
3. Thanksgiving commenced with living creatures, and taken up by the elders; heaven rejoices with earth.
4. Because they, together with the elders, only twenty-four in number, declared, “Thou hast redeemed us from every nation, kindred and tongue”; therefore the representative of every nation and people.
5. The symbol dropped in the closing part of the book, where real heavenly scenes are depicted.
3 Vol. 1., 1.
4
Com. in Loe.
5
Vol.
6 Vol. II., 203.
7 That these were not Jews simply, but all God’s chosen ones, will appear: (1) From the interchanging and intermingling of the tribes of the free and bond woman, and not according to primegeniture. Comp. Gen. xxix. and xxx. with Rev. vii. 5-8. (2) The restoration of the name of Levi to the list: There being a change of priesthood, also a change of law, Heb. vii. 12. See Elliott I., 236. (3) Of the new song it is said, Rev. xiv. 3, “That no man could learn that song but the 144,000, which were redeemed from the earth.” Which necessarily covers all the redeemed, both Jews and Gentiles.
8 The word is spelled
both with “ei” and “i”, as
Lateinos and Latinos. See Schleusner’s Lex. But the former and less common spelling is here used,
as Professor Stuart suggests, “For the very purpose of concealment.” Com. in Loe.
9 Dr. Clark gives 
, the
Latin kingdom, as the interpretation, for, says he, “No other kingdom on earth
can be found to contain 666.” Thus: 
= 8, 
= 30, 
= 1, 
= 300, 
= 10, 
= 50, = 8, 
= 2, = 1, 
= 200, = 10, 
= 30, 
= 5, = 10, = 1, = 666
10I., 310.
11 Horae,
Apoe.
12 For names and dates see Trial of Antichrist, n. 246.
13Newton, Vol. II., p. 291.
14Hor. Apoe.,
15
16 Exp. Lee. VI.
17