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The Word of God and His Armies

REVELATION, XIX.

is a premonition of the shedding of their blood in righteous retribution. He sheds the blood, not of the godly, as the harlot and beast did, but of the bloodstained ungodly, including them both. The Word of God-who made the world, is He also who under the same character and attributes shall make it anew. His title, Son of God, is applicable, in a lower sense, also to His people; but "the Word of God" indicates His incommunicable Godhead, joined to His manhood, which He shall then manifest in glory, "The Bride does not fear the Bridegroom: her love casteth out fear. She welcomes Him: she cannot be happy but at His side. The Lamb (v. 9, the aspect of Christ to His people at His coming] is the symbol of Christ in His gentleness. Who would be afraid of a lamb? Even a little child, instead of being scared, desires to caress it. There is nothing to make us afraid of God but sin, and Jesus is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. What a fearful contrast is the aspect which He will wear towards His enemies! Not as the Bridegroom and the Lamb, but as the favenging judge and warrior stained in the blood of His enemies." 14. the armies... in heavenCf. "the horse-bridles," ch. 14.29. The glorified saints whom God "will bring with" Christ at His advent; cf. ch. 17. 14, "they that are with Him called, chosen, faithful" as also "His mighty angels." white and clean - Greek, "pure." A. B. Vulgate, Syriac, and CYPRIAN omit "and." which ORIGEN and ANDREAS retain, as English Version. 15. out of his mouth...sword ch. 1. 16; 2. 12, 16.) Here in its avenging power, 2 Thessalonians, 2. 8, "consume with the Spirit of His mouth (Isaiah, 11. 4, to which there is allusion here; not in its convicting and converting efficacy (Ephesians, 6. 17; Hebrews, 4, 12, 13, where also the judicial keenness of the sword-like word is included). The Father commits the judgment to the Son. be shall rule-The flɛ is emphatical, He and none other, in contrast to the usurpers who have misruled on earth, "Rule," lit., "tend as a shepherd." but here in a punitive sense. He who would have shepherded them with pastoral rod and with the golden sceptre of His love, shall dash them in pieces, as refractory rebels, with a rod of iron." treadeth...wine-press (Isaiah, 63.3.) of the fierceness and wrath-So ANDREAS reads. But A. B. Vulgate, Coptic, and ORIGEN read, "of the fierceness for boiling indignation) of the wrath," omitting "and." Almighty-The fierceness of Christ's wrath against His foes will be executed with the resources of omnipotence, 16. His name written on His vesture and on His thigh," was written partly on the vesture, partly on the thigh itself, at the part where in an equestrian figure the robe drops from the thigh. The thigh symbolizes Christ's humanity as having come, after the flesh, from the loins of David, and now appear. ing as the glorified "Son of man." On the other hand His incommunicable Divine name, "which no man knew," is on flis head (v. 12). [MENOCHIUS.] KING OF KINGS; cf. ch. 17. 14, in contrast with v. 17, the beast being in attempted usurpation a king of kings, the ten kings delivering their kingdom to him. 17. an-Greek, "one." in the sun-so as to be conspicuous in sight of the whole world. to all the fowls-(Ezekiel, 39. 17-20.) and gather yourselves-A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "be gathered," omitting "and." of the great God-A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "The great supper (ie., banquet) of God." 18. Contrast with this "supper." v. 17. 18. the marriage-supper of the Lamb, v. 9. captains-Greek, "captains of thousands," i.e., chief captains, "kings" are "the ten" who "give their power unto the beast." free and bond-specified in ch. 13. 15, as receiving the mark of the beast." The repetition of flesh (in the Greek it is plural: masses of flesh five times in this verse, marks the gross carnality of the fol

The

Going forth to War with Antichrist,

lowers of the beast. Again, the giving of their flesh to the fowls to eat, is a ri hteous retribution for their not suffering the dead bodies of Christ's witnesses to be put in graves. 19. gathered together at Arms geddon, under the sixth vial. For their armies" in B and ANDREAS, there is found “His armies in A. war-SO ANDREAS. But A, B read, "the war that foretold, ch. 16. 14; 17. 4. 20 and with him, &c.—A reads, "and those with him." B reads, "and he who was with him, the false prophet. miracles-Greek, "the miracles" t., "signs" recorded already ch. 13. 14 as wrought by the second beast before (ist., in sight of) the first beast. Hence it fellows the second boast is identical with the false prophet. Many expositors. represent the first beast to be the secular, the second beast to be the ecclesiastical power of Rome; and account for the change of title for the latter from the "other beast" to the "false prophet," is because by the judgment on the harlot, the ecclesiastical power will then retsin nothing of its former character save the power to deceive. I think it not unlikely that the false prophet will be the successor of the spiritual pretensions of the Papacy; whilst the beast in its last form as the fully-revealed antichrist will be the secular representative and embodiment of the fourth worldkingdom, Rome, in its last form of intensified opposition to God. Cf. with this prophecy, Ezekiel. 38. 09: Daniel, 2. 34, 35, 44; 11. 44, 45; 12. 1; Joel, 3. 8-17; Zechariah, 12. 13. 14. Daniel (7. 8) makes no mention of the second beast, or false prophet, but mentions that "the little horn" has "the eyes of a man," ke.. cunning and intellectual culture: this is not a feature of the first beast in ch. 13., but is expressed by the Apocalyptic "false prophet," the embodiment of man's unsanctified knowledge, and the subtlety of the old serpent. The first beast is a political power; the second is a spiritual power-the power of ideas. Bat both are beasts, the worldly anti-Christian wisdom serving the worldly anti-Christian power. The dragon is both lion and serpent. As the first law in God's moral government is that "judgment should begin at the house of God," and be executed on the harlot, the faithless church, by the world-power with which she had committed spiritual adultery, so it is a second law that the world-power, after having served as God s instrument of punishment, is itself punished. As the harlot is judged by the beast and the ten kings, so these are destroyed by the Lord Himself coming in person. So Zephaniah, ch. 1, compared with ch. 2. And Jeremiah, after denouncing Jerusalem's judgment by Babylon, ends with denouncing Babylon's own doom. Between the judgment on the barlot, and the Lord's destruction of the beast, &c., will intervene that season in which earthly-mindedness will reach its culmination, and anti-Christianity triumph for its short three and a half days during which the two witnesses lie dead. Then shall the church be ripe for her glorification, the anti-Christian world for destruction. The world at the highest development of its material and spiritual power, is but a decorated carcase round which the eagles gather. It is characteristic, that antichrist and his kings, in their blindness, imagine that they can wage war against the King of heaven with earthis hosts: herein is shown the extreme folly of Babylonian confusion. The Lord's mere appearance, with out any actual encounter, shows antichrist his nothingness; cf. the effect of Jesus' appearance even in His humiliation, John, 18. 6. (AUBERLEN.) had receivedrather as Greek, "received," once for all. them that worshipped-lit.. " them worshipping?" not an act once for all done, as the "received" implies, but those is the habit of "worshipping." These both were cast... into a lake-Greek, "... the lake of fire," Gehenna. Satan is subsequently cast into it, at the close of the onibreak which succeeds the millennium (ch, zu, 10.

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Then Death and Hell, as well those not found at the general judgment "written in the book of life:" this constitutes the second death." alive-a living death; not mere annihilation. "Their worm dieth not, their fire is not quenched." 21. the remnant-Greek, "the rest," i.e., "the kings and their armies" (v.19) classed together in one indiscriminate mass. A solemn confirmation of the warning in Psalm 2. 10.

CHAPTER XX.

set

a Thousand Years.

be the manifestation of "the world to come," which has been already set up invisibly in the saints, amidst "this world" (2 Corinthians, 4. 4; Hebrews, 2. 5; 5, 5). The Jewish Rabbis thought, as the world was created in six days and on the seventh God rested, so there would be six millenary periods, followed by a Sabbatical millennium. Out of seven years every seventh is the year of remission, so out of the seven thousand years of the world the seventh millenary shall be the millenary of remission. A tradition in the house of Elias A.D. 200, states that the world is to endure 6000 years: 2000 before the law, 2000 under the law, and 2000 under Messiah. Cf. Note and Margin, Hebrews, 4. 9; ch. 14. 13. PAPIAS, JUSTIN MARTYR, IRENEUS, and CYPRIAN, among the earliest fathers, all held the doctrine of a millennial kingdom on earth: not till millennial views degenerated into gross carnalism was this doctrine abandoned. that he should deceive-So A. But B reads, "that he deceive" (Greek plana, for planeesee). and-So Coptic and ANDREAS. But A, B, and Vulgate omit "and." 4, 5. they sat-the twelve apostles, and the saints in general. judgment was given unto them-(Note, Daniel, 7. 22.) The office of judging was given to them. Though in one sense having to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, yet in another sense they "do not come into judgment (Greck), but have already passed from death unto life." souls-This term is made a plea for denying the literality of the first resurrection, as if the resurrection were the spiritual one of the souls of believers in this life: the life and reign being that of the soul raised in this life from the death of sin by vivifying faith. But "souls" expresses their disembodied state (cf.ch.6.9) as Jolin saw them at first: "and they lived" implies their coming to life in the body again, so as to be visible, as the phrase, v. 5," this is the first resurrection," proves: for as surely as "the rest of the dead lived not (again) until, &c.," refers to the bodily general resurrection, so must the first resur

Ver. 1-15. SATAN BOUND, AND THE FIRST-RISEN SAINTS' REIGN WITH CHRIST, A THOUSAND YEARS: SATAN LOOSED GATHERS THE NATIONS, GOG AND MAGOG, ROUND THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS, AND 18 FINALLY CONSIGNED TO THE LAKE OF FIRE: THE GENERAL RESURRECTION AND LAST JUDGMENT. 1. The destruction of his representatives, the beast and the false prophet, to whom he had given his power, throne, and authority, is followed by the binding of Satan himself for a thousand years. the key of the bottomless pit now transferred from Satan's hands, who had heretofore been permitted by God to use it in letting loose plagues on the earth: he is now to be made to feel himself the torment which he had inflict ed on men: but his full torment is not until he is cast into "the lake of fire" (v. 10). 2. the old-ancient serpent (ch. 12.9). thousand years-As seren mystically implies universality, so a thousand implies perfection, whether in good or evil. [AQUINAS on ch. 11.] Thousand symbolizes that the world is perfectly leavened and pervaded by the Divine: since thousand is ten, the number of the world, raised to the third power, three being the number of God. [AUBERLEN.] It may denote literally also a thousand years. 3. shut himA, B, Vulgate, Syriae, and ANDREAS Omit "him." a seal upon him-Greek, “over him," i.e., sealed up the door of the abyss over his head. A surer seal to keep him from getting out than his seal over Jesus in the tomb of Joseph, which was burst on the resurrection morn. Satan's binding at this juncture is not arbi-rection refer to the body. This also accords with 1 Cotrary, but is the necessary consequence of the events (ch. 19. 20; just as Satan's being cast out of heaven, where he had previously been the accuser of the brethren, was the legitimate judgment which passed on him through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ (ch. 12. 7-10). Satan imagined that he had overcome Christ on Golgotha, and that his power was secure for ever, but the Lord in death overcame him, and by His ascension as our righteous Advocate cast out Satan the accuser from heaven. Time was given him on earth to make the beast and harlot powerful, and then to concentrate all his power in antichrist. The anti-Christian kingdom, his last effort, being utterly destroyed by Christ's mere appearing, his power on earth is at an end. He had thought to destroy God's people on earth by anti-Christian persecutions (just as he had thought previously to destroy Christ;: but the church is not destroyed from the earth, but is raised to rule over it, and Satan himself is shut up for a thousand years in the "abyss" (Greek for "bottomless pit"), the preparatory prison to the "lake of fire," his final doom. As before he ceased by Christ's ascension to be an accuser in heaven, so during the millennium he ceases to be the seducer and the persecutor on earth. As long as the devil rules in the darkness of the world, we live in an atmosphere impregnated with deadly elements. A mighty purification of the air will be effected by Christ's coming. Though sin will not be absolutely abolished-for men will still be in the flesh (Isaiali, 65. 201-8in will no longer be a universal power, for the flesh is not any longer seduced by Satan. He will not be, as now," the god and prince of the world"-nor will the world lie in the wicked one"-the flesh will become ever more isolated and be Christ will reign with His transfigured saints over men in the flesh [AUBERLEN.] This will

overcome.

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rinthians, 15. 23, "They that are Christ's at Ilis coming." Cf. Psalm, 49, 11-15. From ch. 6. 9, I infer that "souls" is here used in the strict sense of spirits disembodied when first seen by John: though doubtless "souls" is often used in general for persons, and even for dead bodies. beheaded-lit., "smitten with an axe:" a Roman punishment, though crucifixion, casting to beasts, and burning, were the more common modes of execution. The guillotine in revolutionary France, still continued in imperial France, is a revival of the mode of capital punishment of Pagan imperial Rome. Paul was beheaded, and no doubt shall share the first resurrection, in accordance with his prayer that he "might attain unto the resurrection from out of the rest of the dead" (Greek exanastasis). The above facts may account for the specification of this particular kind of punishment. for...for-Greek, "for the sake of;"

on account of" "because of." and which-Greek,"and the which:" And prominent among this class (the beheaded), such as did not worship the beast, &c. So ch. 1. 7, Greek, "and the which,' or and such as," particularizes prominently among the general class those that follow in the description. [TREGELLES.] The extent of the first resurrection is not spoken of here. In 1 Corinthians, 15. 23, 51; 1 Thessalonians, 4. 14, we find that all "in Christ" shall share in it. John himself was not "beheaded," yet who doubts but that he shall share in the first resurrection? The martyrs are put first, because most like Jesus in their suffering and death, therefore nearest Him in their life and reign; for Christ indirectly affirms there are relative degrees and places of honour in His kingdom, the highest being for those who drink His cup of suffering. Next shall be those who have not bowed to the worldpower, but have looked to the things unseen and eternal. neither-"not yet." reigned with Christ-over the

Blessedness of the Partakers

REVELATION, XX.

in the First Resurrection.

earth. forehe: ds...hands - Greek, "forehead...hand." | If revelation is to recommence in the millennial king5. But-B. Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "and." A and dom, converted Israel must stand at the head of humaVulgate omit it. again A, B, Vulgate, Coptic, and nity. In a religious point of view, Jews and Gentiles ANDREAS omit it. Lived is used for lived again, as stand on an equal footing as both alike needing mercy; in ch. 2. 8. John saw them not only when restored to but as regards God's instrumentalities for bringing life, but when in the act of reviving. [BENGEL] first about His kingdom on earth, Israel is His chosen resurrection" the resurrection of the just." Earth is people for executing His plans. The Israelite priestnot yet transfigured, and cannot therefore be the meet kings on earth are what the transfigured priest-kings locality for the transfigured church; but from heaven are in heaven. There shall be a blessed chain of givthe transfigured saints with Christ rule the earth, there ing and receiving-God, Christ, the transfigured Bride being a much freer communion of the heavenly and the church, Israel, the world of nations. A new time earthly churches (a type of which state may be seen of revelation will begin by the out-pouring of the fulin the forty days of the risen Saviour during which He ness of the Spirit. Ezekiel (chs. 40.-48), himself son of appeared to His disciples), and they know no higher a priest, sets forth the priestly character of Israel; joy than to lead their brethren on earth to the same Daniel the statesman, its kingly character; Jeremiah salvation and glory as they share themselves. The (33, 17-21), both its priestly and kingly character. In millennial reign on earth does not rest on an isolated the Old Testament the whole Jewish national life was passage of the Apocalypse, but all Old Testament pro-religious only in an external legal manner. The New phecy goes on the same view (cf. Isaiah, 4. 3; 11. 9; 35. 81. Testament church insists on inward renewal, but leaves Jesus, whilst opposing the carnal views of the king-its outward manifestations free. But in the millennial dom of God prevalent among the Jews in His day, kingdom, all spheres of life shall be truly Christianized does not contradict, but confirms, the Old Testament from within outwardly. The Mosaic ceremonial law view of a coming earthly, Jewish kingdom of glory: corresponds to Israel's priestly office; the civil law beginning from within, and spreading itself now spirit- to its kingly office: the Gentile church adopts the ually, the kingdom of God shall manifest itself out- moral law, and exercises the prophetic office by the wardly at Christ's coming again. The Papacy is a false word working inwardly. But when the royal and the anticipation of the kingdom during the Church-histor- priestly office shall be revived, then-the principles of ical period. "When Christianity became a worldly the epistle to the Hebrews remaining the same also power under Constantine, the hope of the future was the ceremonial and civil law of Moses will develop weakened by the joy over present success." [BENGEL.] its spiritual depths in the Divine worship (cf. Matthew, Becoming a harlot, the church ceased to be a bride 5. 17-19). At present is the time of preaching; but then going to meet her Bridegroom: thus millennial hopes the time of the Liturgy of converted souls forming disappeared. The rights which Rome as a harlot "the great congregation" shall come. Then shall our usurped, shall be exercised in holiness by the Bride. present defective governments give place to perfect They are "kings" because they are "priests" (v. 6; ch. governments in both Church and State. Whereas un1.6; 5. 10); their priesthood unto God and Christ (ch. 7. der the Old Testament the Jews exclusively, and in 15) is the ground of their kingship in relation to man. the New Testament the Gentiles exclusively, enjoy the Men will be willing subjects of the transfigured priest- revelation of salvation (in both cases humanity being kings, in the day of the Lord's power. Their power is divided and separated), in the millennium both Jews that of attraction, winning the heart, and not coun- and Gentiles are united, and the whole organism of teracted by devil or beast. Church and State shall mankind under the first-born brother, Israel, walks then be co-extensive. Man created "to have dominion in the light of God, and the full life of humanity is at over earth" is to rejoice over his world with unmixed, last realized. Scripture does not view the human race holy joy. St. John tells us that, instead of the devil, as an aggregate of individuals and nationalities, but the transfigured Church of Christ; Daniel, that instead as an organic whole, laid down once for all in the first of the heathen beast, the holy Israel, shall rule the pages of revelation [Genesis, 9, 25-27; 10. 1, 6, 18, 25, 32; world. (AUBERLEN.] 6. Blessed-(cf. ch. 14. 13; 19. 9.) Deuteronomy, 32. 8, recognizes the fact that from the on such the second death hath no power-even as it has first the division of the nations was made with a rela none on Christ now that He is risen. priests of God- tion to Israell. Hence arises the importance of the Apostate Christendom being destroyed, and the believ-Old ing church translated at Christ's coming, there will remain Israel and the heathen world, constituting the majority of men then alive, which, from not having come into close contact with the gospel, have not incurred the guilt of rejecting it. These will be the subjects of a general conversion (ch. 11. 15). "The veil" shall be taken off Israel first, then from off "all people." The glorious events attending Christ's appearing, the destruction of antichrist, the transfiguration of the church, and the binding of Satan, will prepare the nations for embracing the gospel. As individual-re-heavenly glories shall be united in the two-fold eleegeneration goes on now, so there shall be a "regeneration" of nations then. Israel, as a nation, shall be "born at once-in one day." As the church began at Christ's ascension, so the kingdom shall begin at His second advent. This is the humiliation of the modern civilized nations, that nations which they despise, most Jews and uncivilized barbarians, the negro descendants of Ham who from the curse of Noah have been so backward, Kush and Sheba, shall supplant and surpass them as centres of the world's history (cf. Deu-sciousness of blessing as on the mount of transfigurateronomy, 32, 21; Romans, 10. 19; 11. 20, &c). The Jews are our teachers even in New Testament times. Since their rejection revelation has been silent. The whole Lible, even the New Testament, is written by Jews.

Testament to the church now as ever. Three grand groups of nations, Hamites, Japhetites, and Shemites, correspond respectively to the three fundamental elements in man-body, soul, and spirit. The flower of Shem, the representative of spiritual life, is Israel, even as the flower of Israel is He in whom all mankind is summed up, the second Adam (Genesis, 12, 1-3). Thus Israel is the mediator of Divine revelations for all times, Even nature and the animal-world will share in the millennial blessedness. As sin loses its power, decay and death will decrease. [AUBERLEN.] Earthly and

tion. Elect Israel in the flesh shall stand at the head of the earthly, the elect spiritual church, the Bride, in the heavenly. These two-fold elections are not merely for the good of the elect themselves, but for the good of those to whom they minister. The heavenly church is elected not merely to salvation, but to rule in love, and minister blessings over the whole earth, as king-priests. The glory of the transfigured saints shall be felt by men in the flesh with the same con

tion the three disciples experienced in witnessing the glory of Jesus, and of Moses and Elias, when Feter exclaimed, "It is good for us to be here:" in 2 Peter, L 16-18, the transfiguration is regarded as the earnest of

Apostasy under Gog and Magog.

REVELATION, XX.

The Last Judgment.

Christ's coming in glory. The privilege of "our high | Paradise regained, to show the perfect security of becalling in Christ" is limited to the present time of lievers, unlike the first Adam whom Satan succeeded Satan's reign; when he is bound, there will be no scope in robbing of Paradise; and shall, like Pharaoh at the for suffering for, and so afterwards reigning with Him Red sea, receive in this last attempt his final doom. (ch. 3. 21; cf. Note, 1 Corinthians, 6. 2). Moreover, none 11. great-in contrast to the thrones," v. 4. whitecan be saved in the present age and in the pale of the the emblem of purity and justice. him that sat on itChristian church, who does not also reign with Christ The Father. [ALFORD.] Rather, the Son, to whom hereafter, the necessary preliminary to which is suf-"the Father hath committed all judgment." God in fering with Christ now. If we fail to lay hold of the Christ, i.c., the Father represented by the Son, is He crown, we lose all, “the gift of grace as well as the before whose judgment-seat we must all stand. The reward of service." [DE BURGH.] 7. expired-Greek, Son's Mediatorial reign is with a view to prepare the **finished." 8. Gog and Magog-(Notes, Ezekiel, 38, and kingdom for the Father's acceptance, which having 39.) Magog is a general name for northern nations of done He shall give it up to the Father, "that God may Japheth's posterity, whose ideal head is Gog (Genesis, be all in all," coming into direct communion with His 10. 2. A has but one Greek article to "Gog and creatures, without intervention of a Mediator, for the Magog," whereby the two, viz., the prince and the first time since the fall. Heretofore Christ's Prophepeople, are marked as having the closest connexion. tical mediation had been prominent in His earthly Breads the second article before Magog wrongly. ministry, His Priestly mediation is prominent now HILLER (Onomasticon) explains both words as signi- in heaven between His first and second advents, and fying lofty, elevated. For "quarters" the Greek is His Kingly shall be so during the millennium and at "corners." to battle-Greek, "to the war," in A, B. the general judgment. earth and heaven fled away-The But ANDREAS omits "the." 9. on the breadth of the final conflagration, therefore, precedes the general earth-so as completely to overspread it. Perhaps we judgment. This is followed by the new heaven and ought to translate. "... of the [holy] land." the camp earth (ch. 21.). 12. the dead-"the rest of the dead" of the saints... and the beloved city-the camp of the who did not share the first resurrection, and those saints encircling the beloved city, Jerusalem (Ecclesias- who died during the millennium. small and great-B ticus, 24. 11). Contrast "hateful" in Babylon (ch. 18. 2; has "the small and the great." A. Vulgate, Syriac, Deuteronomy, 32. 15, LXX.). Ezekiel's prophecy of and ANDREAS have "the great and the small." The Gog and Magog (38. and 39.) refers to the attack made wicked who had died from the time of Adam to Christ's by antichrist on Israel before the millennium: but second advent, and all the righteous and wicked who this attack is made after the millennium, so that "Gog had died during and after the millennium, shall then and Magog" are mystical names representing the final have their eternal portion assigned to them. The godly adversaries led by Satan in person. Ezekiel's Gog and who were transfigured and reigned with Christ during Magog come from the N., but those here come "from it, shall also be present, not indeed to have their porthe four corners of the earth." Gog is by some con- tion assigned as if for the first time (for that shall have nected with a Hebrew root, "covered." from God-So been fixed long before, John, 5. 24), but to have it conB, Vulgate, Syriac. Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A firmed for ever, and that God's righteousness may be omits the words. Even during the millennium there vindicated in the case of both the saved and the lost, is a separation between heaven and earth, transfigured in the presence of an assembled universe. Cf. "We humanity and humanity in the flesh. Hence it is pos- must ALL appear," &c., Romans, 14. 10; 2 Corinthians, sible that an apostasy should take place at its close. In 5. 10. The saints having been first pronounced just the judgment on this apostasy the world of nature is themselves by Christ out of the book of life," shall destroyed and renewed, as the world of history was be- sit as assessors of the Judge. Cf. Matthew, 25. 31, 32, fore the millennial kingdom; it is only then that the 40, "these my brethren." God's omniscience will not new heaven and new earth are realized in final perfec- allow the most insignificant to escape unobserved, and tion. The millennial new heaven and earth are but His omnipotence will cause the mightiest to obey the a foretaste of this everlasting state when the upper and summons. The living are not specially mentioned: as lower congregations shall be no longer separate, though these all shall probably first (before the destruction of connected as in the millennium, and when new Jeru- the ungodly, v. 9) be transfigured, and caught up with salem shall descend from God out of heaven. The in- the saints long previously transfigured; and though herited sinfulness of our nature shall be the only influ- present for the confirmation of their justification by ence during the millennium to prevent the power of the Judge, shall not then first have their eternal state the transfigured church saving all souls. When this assigned to them, but shall sit as assessors with the time of grace shall end, no other shall succeed. For Judge. the books...opened-Daniel, 7. 10.) The books what can move him in whom the visible glory of the of God's remembrance, alike of the evil and the good church, whilst the influence of evil is restrained, evokes (Psalm 66. 8; 139. 4; Malachi, 3. 16): Conscience (Romans, no longing for communion with the church's King? 2. 15, 16, the Word of Christ (John, 12. 48), the Law (GaAs the history of the world of nations ended with the latians, 3. 10), God's eternal counsel (Psalm 139. 16). manifestation of the church in visible glory, so that book of life-(ch. 3. 5; 13. 8; 21. 27; Exodus, 32. 32, 33; of mankind in general shall end with the great sepa- Psalm 69. 28; Daniel, 12. 1; Philippians, 4. 3.) Besides ration of the just from the wicked (v. 12). [AUBERLEN.] the general book recording the works of all, there is a 10. that deceived-Greek, "that deceiveth," &c. lake of special book for believers in which their names are fire-his final doom: as" the bottomless pit" (v. 1) was written, not for their works, but for the work of Christ his temporary prison. where-So Coptic. But A, B, for, and in, them. Therefore it is called "the Lamb's Vulgate, and Syriac read, "where also." the beast and book of life." Electing grace bas singled them out from the false prophet are-(ch. 19. 20.) for ever and ever- the general mass. according to their works-We are jusGreek, "to the ages of the ages." day and night-figura- tified by faith, but judged according to (not by) our tive for without intermission (ch. 22. 5), such as now works. For the general judgment is primarily deis caused by night interposing between day and day. signed for the final vindication of God's righteousness The same phrase is used of the external state of the before the whole world, which in this chequered disblessed (ch. 4. 8). As the bliss of these is eternal, so pensation of good and evil, though really ruling the the woe of Satan and the lost must be. As the beast world, has been for the time less manifest. Faith is and the false prophet led the former conspiracy against appreciable by God and the believer alone (ch. 2. 17). Christ and His people, so Satan in person heads the But works are appreciable by all. These, then, are last conspiracy. Satan shall be permitted to enter this made the evidential test to decide men's eternal state,

The New Heaven

REVELATION, XXI.

and New Earth. thus showing that God's administration of judgment, would detract from a perfect state. A "river" and is altogether righteous. 13. death and hell-Greek, Hades. The essential identity of the dying and risen body is hereby shown; for the sea and grave give up their dead. The body that sinned or served God, shall, in righteous retribution, be the body also that shall suffer, or be rewarded. The "sea" may have a symbolical [CLUVER from AUGUSTINE], besides the literal, meaning, as in ch. 8. 8; 12. 12; 13. 1; 18. 17, 19: so "death" and "hell" are personifications (cf. ch. 21. 1). But the literal sense necd hardly be departed from: all the different regions wherein the bodies and souls of men had been, gave them up. 14. Death and Hades, as personified representatives of the enemies of Christ and His church, are said to be cast into the lake of fire to express the truth that Christ and His people shall never more die, or be in the state of disembodied spirits. This is the second death-viz.), "the lake of fire" is added in A, B, and ANDREAS. English Version, which omits the clause, rests on inferior MSS. In hell the ancient form of death, which was one of the enemies destroyed by Christ, shall not continue, but a death of a far different kind reigns there. "ererlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord: an abiding testimony of the victory of Christ. 15. The blissful lot of the righteous is not here specially mentioned, as their bliss had commenced before the final judgment. Cf, however, Matthew, 25. 34, 41, 46.

CHAPTER XXI.

"water" are spoken of in ch, 22. 1, 2, probably literal
(ie., with such changes of the natural properties of
water, as correspond analogically to man's own trans-
figured body), as well as symbolical. The sea was Ende
the element of the world's destruction, and is still the
source of death to thousands, whence after the millen-
nium, at the general judgment, it is specially said,
"The sea gave up the dead...in it." Then it shall
ease to destroy, or disturb, being removed altogether
on account of its past destructions. 2. And I John-
"John" is omitted in A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic,
and ANDREAS; also the "I" in the Greek of these
authorities is not emphatical The insertion of “I
John' in the Greek would somewhat interfere with
the close connexion which subsists between "the new
heaven and earth," v. 1, and the "new Jerusalem in
this verse. Jerusalem...out of heaven-(ch. 3. 12; Gala-
tians, 4. 26, "Jerusalem which is above," Hebrews, IL.
10; 12. 22; 13. 14. The descent of the new Jerusalem ent
of hearen is plainly distinct from the earthly Jerusalem
in which Israel in the flesh shall dwell during the mil-
lennium, and follows on the creation of the new heaven
and earth. John in his Gospel always writes [Greck]
Herosoluma of the old city; in the Apocalypse always
Herousaleem of the heavenly city (ch. 3. 12. Hierow
salcem is a Hebrew name, the original and holy appel-
lation. Hierosoluma is the common Greek term, used
in a political sense. St. Paul observes the same dis-
tinction when refuting Judaism (Galatians, 4. 26; cf.
1. 17, 18; 2. 1; Hebrews, 12. 22), though not so in the
epistles to Romans and Corinthians. [BESGEL] bride
made up of the blessed citizens of "the holy city."
There is no longer merely a l'aradise as in Eden though
there is that also, ch. 2. 7), no longer a mere garden, bet
now the city of God on earth, costlier, statelier, and
more glorious, but at the same time the result of labour
and pains such as had not to be expended by man in
dressing the primitive garden of Ellen. "The livery
stones" were severally in time laboriously chiselled
into shape, after the pattern of the Chief corner
stone," to prepare them for the place which they shall
everlastingly fill in the heavenly Jerusalem. 3. out
of heaven - So ANDREAS. But A and Vulgate read,
"out of the throne." the tabernacle-Alluding to the
tabernacle of God in the wilderness (wherein many
signs of His presence were given; of which this is the
antitype, having previously been in heaven: ch. 11. 19;
15, 5, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony
in heaven;" also 13. 6. Cf. the contrast in Hebrews, 9.
23, 24, between "the patterns" and "the heaverly
things themselves," between "the figures" and "the
true." The earnest of the true and heavenly tabernacle
was afforded in the Jerusalem temple described to
Ezekiel, 40., &c., as about to be, viz., during the milles-
nium. dwell with them-lit., "tabernacle with them;"
the same Greek word as is used of the Divine Son
"tabernacling among us." Then He was in the weak-

Ver. 1-27. THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH: NEW JERUSALEM OUT OF HEAVEN. The remaining two chapters describe the eternal and consummated kingdom of God and the saints on the new earth. As the world of nations is to be pervaded by Divine influence in the millennium, so the world of nature shall be, not annihilated, but transfigured universally in the eternal state which follows it. The earth was cursed for man's sake: but is redeemed by the second Adam. Now is the church; in the millennium shall be the kingdom; and after that shall be the new world wherein God shall be all in all. The "day of the Lord" and the conflagration of the earth are in 2 Peter, 3., spoken of as if connected together, from which many argue against a millennial interval between His coming and the general conflagration of the old earth, preparatory to the new: but "day" is used often of a whole period comprising events intimately connected together as are the Lord's second advent, the millennium, and the general conflagration and judgment. Cf. Genesis, 2. 4, as to the wide use of "day." Man's soul is redeemed by regeneration through the Holy Spirit now; man's body shall be redeemed at the resurrection; man's dwellingplace, His inheritance, the earth, shall be redeemed perfectly at the creation of the new heaven and earth, which shall exceed in glory the first Paradise, as much as the second Actam exceeds in glory the first Adam before the fall, and as man regenerated in body and sonl shall exceed man as he was at creation. 1. the first-t.e., the former. passed away-Greck in A, Bisness of the flesh; but at the new creation of heaven and "were departed" (Greek apeethon, not as in English earth He shall tabernacle among us in the glory of His Version, pareelthe). was-Greck, "is," which graphi- manifested Godhead (ch. 22. 4). they-in, Greek empha cally sets the thing before our eyes as present. notical, "they" (in particular). his people-Greek, “* His more sea-The sea is the type of perpetual unrest. peoples:" "the nations of the saved" being all pect Hence our Lord rebukes it as an unruly hostile liarly His, as Israel was designed to be. So A reads. troubler of His people. It symbolized the political But B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "His people" tumults out of which the beast" arose, ch. 13. 1. As singular. God himself...with them-realizing fully Hs the physical corresponds to the spiritual and moral name, Immanuel. 4. all tears- Greek, "every tear." world, so the absence of sea, after the metamorphosis no more death-Greek, "death shall be no more." There of the earth by jire, answers to the unruffled state of fore it is not the millennium, for in the latter there is solid peace which shall then prevail. The sea, though death (Isaiah, 65. 20; 1 Corinthians, 15, 26, 54, "the last severing lands from one another, is now, by God's enemy...destroyed is death," ch. 20. 14, after the mil eliciting of good from evil, made the medium of com- lennium). sorrow-Greek, "mourning." passed away munication between countries through navigation.-Greek, "departed," as in e. 1. 5. sat-Greck, "i Then man shall possess inherent powers which shall teth." all things new-not recent, but changed from Bake the sea no longer necessary, but an element which the old (Greek kaina, not nea.. An earnest of the

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