(Verses 1, 2.)
The expression, "Revelation of Jesus Christ," is only found here in the Apocalypse. The following words, "which God gave unto him," show that the question is of a revelation given by God the Father to Jesus glorified. (Compare John 12:49, 5049For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. (John 12:49‑50).)
Some interpreters explain these words, the prophecy of the unveiling or manifestation of the person of Jesus, until then hidden in heaven. It is true that this idea is justified by the contents of verses 10-17 and by the promise of the return of Jesus, so often repeated in the book; it is true, moreover, that the word Apocalypse signifies “unveiling." But one cannot, and ought not., to lose sight of the literal and complete sense of the phrase as a whole, nor separate the words "revelation of Jesus Christ" from those which follow, "which God gave unto him."
The literal sense of the passage is, that God the Father gave a revelation to Jesus Christ, who signified by sending it to John by his angel. God is the dispenser; He gives. Jesus is pre-eminently the Witness; he dictates; (verse 19,) he communicates what he has received. John is the servant and witness of his Master: he writes to transmit and attest what he has seen and heard. The second verse presents to us anew the Word of God, the expression of His counsel: the testimony of Jesus, or the counsel of God communicated either by visions or by dictation; things which John saw, heard, wrote, and attested.
The Revelation is given in favor of the servants of God, or of those who serve Him on earth, and in the number of whom Jesus ranges Himself.
The character of servant is indispensable for reading, understanding, and enjoying the book; if it is shut up to the world and to the friends of the world, it is not so to those who, living in the hope of the things promised, are the ear open and the heart disposed to keep and observe the things which John has written for their instruction. The service of all the free-men consists not in offering their members as instruments to inequity, but in presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God. Detachment from perishable things, self-renunciation, separation from the world as regards the things of God, dependence upon: God, application to seek His will in order to do it, love, constitute the character of servant. One is a friend of Jesus in the proportion that one is the servant of God, for the servant is to be as his Master, who, though a Son, learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and who is thus become Captain and Completer of the faith.
Although we be sons, kings and, priests, and even because we are so, we must, before judging and reigning with Christ, serve Him as witnesses, walking in His stops until He come. It is in the measure that we are clothed with the character of faithful servants that we advance in the understanding of prophecy in general, and of this book in particular. It is one of the most important keys to the treasure of our God; all the knowledge possible will never supply obedience to comprehend the counsels of the Lord. Noah was a just man and sincere in his time, walking with God; also he had been a hundred and twenty years before divinely warned of things not seen as yet. The Lord could not leave Abraham in ignorance of the judgment which He was about to inflict upon the guilty cities of the plain, because Abraham is His friend, keeping apart from the evil, and thus spewing himself the obedient servant of his God. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? No! God cannot do so, for it is and always will be true, that the secret of the Lord is with the righteous and with them that fear Him; and the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.
John was, without doubt, the servant of Jesus Christ, like Paul, James, Peter, and all the other apostles; but I believe that he is presented here as the prophet of the kingdom of the Son of man, as the brother of the Jews, joint-witness and joint-servant of the Jewish prophets; for it must not be lost sight of that the Revelation is a résumé" and a sequel of the prophecies of the Old Testament. John receives a prophetic and apocalyptic ministry outside his calling as an apostle, a member of the Church; and he does not appear here as minister of the Gospel of grace, knowing all things by the unction of the Holy One. He even addresses the Church according to this character in the two first verses. I believe that, if we except one only, (chap. 2:20,) the different passages which might be cited on the condition of servant in the Revelation, present all the idea of a service of testimony in relation to the things wherewith the book is occupied. We find a service of testimony filled by angels, and which, like the preceding, bears above all upon the Jewish people, the world and the end of the present age.
Jesus himself, when He speaks in this book, is Prophet and Witness above everything else; He takes angels, John and the prophets, to Serve Him as fellow-servants in the prophetic testimony, to proclaim “the things which must shortly come to pass “in the world. When Jesus was on earth as man in the intimacy of the Father, He immediately communicated to the disciples the thoughts of the Father in respect of them, and then from servants they became His friends. Jesus having gone back to heaven, the Holy Ghost revealed to the Church, for its exigencies, all the thoughts of God by means of the apostles, and Himself explains, and even renders those revelations living to those who received the unction of the Holy One. As regards the Apocalypse, Jesus in heaven has received of the Father, and directly reveals to John, for all the servants of God, the things which we are going to read. John, the servant of Jesus Christ, as well as all those who are in the same position, keep the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, or the words of this book, or the testimony which they had. John, the beloved disciple of the Lord, is named four times clearly as the writer of the book. The end of the second verse, “all things that John saw," is altogether in unison with the habits of the writer.
(Verse 3.)
The special blessings attached to the reading, the study, and the exposition of the Revelation, are found repeated at the end of the book. This particular agency sufficiently refutes the cloudy prejudice which leads many of the redeemed to neglect, and even to despise, under a vain pretext of humility, the intimate thoughts of God respecting the present world and the world to come. True respect does not consist in turning our back upon the burning bush, but just the reverse, in approaching it with un-sandaled feet, in listening to the voice of Jesus, in considering the vision, and keeping the Word of God, in a walk holy and worthy of our calling.
Jeremiah, addressing those who, among God's people, received not the witness of the prophets, said to them: “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."
Now, those who fear to be conformed to the present age, and who desire to walk not according to the world but according to God, will ever find here the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ to be a lamp to their feet and a light to their path.
But it is not enough to hear the Word of prophecy; it must be kept, in order to draw from it the promised blessings. These do not concern the disciples who desire to remain attached to the present age, but those with whom knowledge is transformed into life and practice, in consequence of the obedience which hears and keeps the word of this book.
"He that readeth and they that hear" form a whole, to whom the blessings are promised on condition of observing the thingsread. I am well persuaded, nevertheless, that the simple private reading of the book procures great blessings to every attentive reader, and we have more than one example of conversions begun in this way.
Almost all the things contained in the Epistles of the New Testament, concern the Church, and are addressed to it directly; there was no need there to say: "Blessed is he that readeth." If, then, the Lord found it good to open and terminate the Revelation by such an exhortation, is it not a proof that all its contents are not absolutely and directly applicable to the Church, like the contents of the Epistles? It seems to me that the exhortation not to despise prophecies may give the understanding of the worth of the exhortation which occupies us.
It is evident that the blessing of the third verse is as general as possible, or, in other words, that since the day when it was written, it has not to be accomplished for the readers and the hearers attentive and obedient to the words of the prophecy, and that it will yet be accomplished as regards those who shall read or listen to it in like manner, at the sight of the awful signs and terrible judgments which are to announce the day of the wrath of the Lamb. It is no less evident, in my judgment, that the properly prophetic portion, namely, from chapter 4 to the end, will not begin to be accomplished till after the Church is withdrawn from the scene here below and introduced to the glory of her heavenly Bridegroom. That being so, what meaning for us, readers and hearers, the members of the Church, can have these words of our verse, " and keep those things which are written therein? " Or, how can we keep things, the greater part of which is not spoken in respect of the Church, and how taste thus the precious blessing which is engaging us?
It may be well said, that this also is addressed to the spiritual intelligence of the saints, and that this apparent difficulty does not exist for the simple soul who seeks the teachings of the Holy Ghost. Indeed, since all the Old Testament, which notwithstanding is not occupied with the Church of Christ, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, even as, God be thanked, we know it is by a blessed experience, why should it not be the same with the Revelation? The Spirit of God knows how to enable us to discover in the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets, precious instructions, powerful applications, a nourishment sound and strengthening to our souls. Now, it is precisely that which is produced by the reading of the last book of the Bible, when this reading is done under the power of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. Oh! yes, may the Lord be blessed for it! there is always to us the means of keeping "those things which are written therein," even though the greater part of these things will only be realized after our departure from this world; there is then to us always the means of our appropriating this good promise. There is nothing in the Word of our God from which the Christian ought not and cannot reap for his soul. To assist in making myself understood, one example will suffice. If anyone asked me, What instruction would you have me to draw from chapters 17. and 18. of this book, which contain the description of Babylon and of its terrible judgment, seeing that I hardly know what Babylon is, and that I shall not be a witness of these events? It would be easy to reply, If you know not what Babylon actually is, you ought to know how to discern around you the principles and the spirit of Babylon which reign in the world. These chapters are to you a powerful preaching, which calls on you to be on your guard, not to let yourselves be seduced or dragged away by the spirit of Babylon; and these words will always be a moral present reality very serious to the family of the Lord: " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins." (18:4.)
Another striking example for the support of that which we have just said, is presented to us in 2 Tim. 3:1-51This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1‑5). Paul writes to his disciple that, "in the last days" perilous times shall come, and men shall be filled with wickedness and vices, of which he furnishes the melancholy and gloomy picture. Might not Timothy have asked: What instruction can I draw from this prophecy relative to the last days? But the principles of the apostasy already reigned at that time in the world, and Paul adds, as if to emancipate the objection, "from such turn away."
"For the time is at hand." If this word becomes more and more serious for us, each day which brings us near the time assigned to the events, what will be its power over the conscience of those who shall observe it, when the events begin to happen quickly! The times and the seasons, which the Father has kept in his own authority, remain his secret. Every time that it is treated of his return as Son of man, Jesus himself, as such, on earth knew neither the day nor the hour, neither does anyone know them yet. But the witnesses of the end of the age shall repeat with joy this good word: “Lift up your heads! deliverance is nigh, for the time is at hand."
The three first verses which we have just examined are, as it were, the superscription of the whole book, and their contents may suggest the thought that they were inspired to John alter the communications which form the ground of the book. These communications were made to John, in a great measure, by visions, of which the larger part were explained to him by the Word of God, and there is what is meant by “all things that John saw."
(Verses 4, 5.)
"The seven churches that are in Asia" are only pointed out here under the same title: they represent the Church in its fullness or in its unity on earth. They are set in the first row of hearers, as constituting "the things which are," up to the end of the third chapter. The point of view of service is that which is common to all those to whom the apocalyptic testimony is confided, that is, to the servants of God, then to the seven churches which are in Asia, and to the churches; to all those, in a word, who have ears to hear. All the faithful, who look for the return of the Lord to realize the promises made to their faith, find in the reading of this book a community of interest, of which he which is to come is the center and object.
All the things which concern the world and the inheritance of the Son of God are then confided to us, as to the co-heirs of Him who is going soon to establish the immoveable kingdom which we shall share with Him. The knowledge of these things is so much more indispensable, as the preaching of “the whole counsel of God" forms also part of the ministry confided to the Church; and there is no service, I think, more sweet and more refreshing than proclaiming the return of Him after whom our souls sigh.
Nevertheless, I repeat, the narration concerns the kingdom and the reign, rather than the Church, for the latter is not the special object of the book. We are not those who have to traverse the events predicted in its prophetic part; and, in this sense, one may say that the things which are written therein, though far from being indifferent to the Church, concern it only indirectly and in a manner inferior to its own privileges and its own hopes, considered in their heavenly characteristics.
The salutation contained in these two verses is like that of several Epistles of the New Testament; and such words of confirmation, coming from the most holy God, are very precious to the disciples whom He calls to receive the revelation of His thoughts. God, speaking to the souls who have received of Him grace and peace desires that the enjoyment of these ineffable the day of the assassination multiplied to them.
God the Father, author of the Revelation, is named the first by a species of Greek analysis of his Hebrew name of Jehovah, or Eternal. This name, under which He manifested Himself for the first time in Exodus 3:15,15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (Exodus 3:15) contains an idea of the Trinity. Jesus the Eternal receives elsewhere in the book the tide of "Him which is and which was, and which is to come." ‘This latter title, given here to God the Father, will be taken by the Son, in verse 8.
“The seven Spirits which are before his throne are the diverse manifestations of one and the self-same Spirit, represented thus in its fullness and in its relationships with the redeemed and with creation. The seven Spirits exercise the oversight and government of the holy Spirit over all the universe. (v. 6.) They never worship God, because they are God; and we see nowhere that adoration is addressed to them. The seven churches are here blessed by the Holy Spirit, the channel of every revelation contained in the Word, and conjointly by the Father and the Son.
Isaiah 11:22And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; (Isaiah 11:2) shows us seven manifestations of the Spirit of God, which correspond, I think, to this fullness in our verse; first, the Spirit of Jehovah; secondly, of wisdom; thirdly, of understanding; fourthly, of counsel; fifthly, of strength; sixthly, of knowledge; seventhly, of the fear of the Lord.
The New Testament always names the Son before the Holy Ghost; but here it is the contrary, because the Son is the object of the Revelation. The Lord Jesus afterwards appears invested with three offices: He has, first, that of faithful Witness, who has always gloriously manifested the Father, and whose appearing will be shown in His own time by the Eternal, whom no man has seen nor can see. This office of Witness of the ways of God, and Revealer of His counsel toward the world, is particularly attributed to Jesus in the Apocalypse. (3:14; 19:10.)
His second office is that of Mediator between God and man.
He is Mediator in the quality of God-man, who has been dead but who is alive, and who has paid by His blood the ransom of those who become the partakers of the better and new covenant, which is thus for them eternal and gratuitous. The acceptance of His devotedness is proved to us by his title of first-born of the dead. He is not merely born from the dead, as head of the first resurrection, but He is the first-born of Ike dead, He who has burst the doors of Hades and caused to cease the birth-pains of death. In Col. 1., we find these two things: in verse 15, He is the firstborn of all creation, a first-born of the dead, He who is the resurrection and the life. In verse 18, He is the first-born of the Church, or from the dead, because that in His death and resurrection Jesus is the Germ of the second creation, which is immutable, and of which the Church in Him is the first-fruits, for it is needful "that in all things He should have the pre-eminence."
His third office of King and of the true David belonged to Him, though He did not ostensibly exercise it, at the time of His first advent in humiliation. He then abandoned the joy which was offered to Him as the Messiah, and from a King He made Himself a servant, in order to bring, through His rent flesh, poor sinners into the glory of His resurrection, and to deliver the world of the adversary. The crowns are all his by right, for He is the Son and the Heir,
Jesus has been the faithful Witness, humbled and rejected on earth. (Is. 54:4.)
As risen, He is the Witness in and over the Church which is on earth. (Col. 1:2727To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27). Rev. 1:10-1910I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 19Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; (Revelation 1:10‑19).)
In these different positions of testimony, Jesus has set, sets, or will set in evidence the unbelief of the world and the faithfulness of God.
(Verse 6.)
The Church of the redeemed replies to the salutation of the Trinity. This praise is addressed to Jesus, as to Him who has brought us to God, the source of every excellent grace and of every perfect gift. The Apocalypse being a book essentially prophetic, God is not presented in it as the Father of his redeemed creatures, but as the Father of the Lord Jesus, who is the object of the Revelation, and who is to bring to Him all things subject and pacified. The adoption of the Church and its full acceptance in Christ will be consummated by the glorification of all the members of His body before the apocalyptic prophecy takes its course. The Church says: " Unto Him who loveth us," because the love of Him who makes Himself like us, in order to render us like Him, cannot change, and is eternal. His blood has wrought our deliverance, our redemption. The blood sets at liberty—it annuls the act which was contrary to us—it is our passport to heaven. Water washes, and though blood does so likewise, it goes much farther; it purifies us, because it makes us pass through the death and off-stripping of the flesh. The blood of Christ shed, and His body broken, have abolished sin, taken away sin.
The blood of Christ in which the Church was washed, this blood which is given it only to drink, is what has put the Church in possession of all its heavenly privileges, by making it to partake in the very life of the Son of God.
The anointing of blood entered into the ceremony of consecrating the priests. To be a kingdom, priests to the God and Father of Jesus Christ, is a promise very superior to that which Jehovah made to the Jewish people, for whom it will be realized on earth in the age to come.
In this last case it is a question, in my opinion, not of a heavenly people, but of the earthly calling promised to Israel by the Lord.
The Church, which here celebrates the love of Jesus and the position it has acquired thereby before his Father, possesses a kingdom and a priesthood which are of an order at once holy and heavenly. (1 Peter 2: 5, 9.)
Finally, it must not be read, "a kingdom of priests," for the Church is not a kingdom in the midst of other kingdoms-it is more than that; it is the body and complement of Christ, it belongs to heaven; its origin is heavenly, its calling is heavenly, as well as its reign and its priesthood.
Other songs give to Jesus a far greater number of attributes; but here, love is in the foremost line, as the most excellent thing; the blood afterwards comes as the witness of this love, and the heavenly calling as the result of the sprinkling of the blood. To the Risen One glory and strength belong.
(Verses 7, 8.)
"Behold!" This interjection, repeated thirty times in the book, always announces some revelation new and worthy of all our attention.
When the King of the daughter of Sion came to her, mounted upon the foal of an ass, the prophecy of Zech. 9:99Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9) had only an imperfect accomplishment; for if the new generation of children, which arose (Matt. 11:16; 21:15-18,16But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, (Matthew 11:16)
15And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? 17And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. 18Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. (Matthew 21:15‑18)) for a moment with the disciples, manifested at that time great joy, nevertheless, almost the entire nation consented not the less to the death of their King. Jesus wept over the daughter of Sion, and, far from "saving Himself," He voluntarily laid down His life; so that they who shamefully entreated Him were right in saying: “He saved others, Himself Ile cannot save." Also, when the Holy Spirit quotes Zech. 9:99Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9) in the New Testament, He purposely omits the two parts of this passage which speak of the joy of the daughter and of the circumstance that the King would save Himself. In the present dispensation, the sword is on earth, peace returned back to heaven with its Prince, and the Lord is for the world as a man who slumbers. The Jewish home is left deserted until this people are converted. This will only take place when the Lord comes in the clouds, and then He will save Himself, and will be alone for wrath as He has been alone under wrath.
The time of this return is linked with the judgment of the nations gathered around Jerusalem.
That will be a day of destruction and judgment, of retribution and terror, for the adversaries that dwell upon the earth.
In Dan. 7:13,13I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13) the Son of man cometh with clouds to the throne of the Ancient of days, to receive the investiture of the kingdom; but then He returns with clouds to put Himself in possession, and that in the same manner as He ascended into heaven. (Acts 1:1111Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11); compare Rev. 14:1414And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (Revelation 14:14).)
The nineteenth chapter of the Apocalypse gives the details of this return, of which the preparatives and the effects are prefigured in the fourteenth. This event is the center and pivot of all the counsel of God toward the world, for the return of the Son of man takes place for the earth and on the earth, and corresponds with the prophecy of Haggai 2.: " Yet once more I will shake the heavens and the earth." Heb. 12:2626Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (Hebrews 12:26) speaks to us of it as of a promise to the saints, but to the world it is an awful threat. The final result of the coming of the Son of man will be the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, then the restitution of all the things promised by the prophets, and, finally, the reign of God, and the eternal ruin of that which' is opposed to God.
It is essentially important to us to understand that, at this time, God, by means of Jesus, will bring us with Him, and before the return of the Son of man ON EARTH, there is a return of the Lord IN THE CLOUDS INTO THE AIR, to catch up to heaven His risen Bride, in order that she may return with Him. It must needs be that our return with Him is preceded by “our gathering unto Him."An attentive reading of 1 Thess. 4:14-1814For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14‑18) should give the understanding of the difference which exists between the coming of the Lord or of the Son of God, IN ORDER to take away the Church out of the world, and the coming of the Son of man ALONG WITH the risen Church; between the coming of Jesus for our gathering unto Him in heaven, and the day of the Lord returning to destroy the workers of iniquity and the works of the devil.
In the fourth verse, God is, in the most general way, “He who is to come," In verses 7 and 8, it is Jesus who, in the peculiar characteristics attributed to God in the fourth; verse, is called "He who is to come, “and He thus accomplishes, as to the world, the promise of verse 4. We find then, in the comparison of these two verses, the identification of Jesus with God the Father.
Jesus, He by whom and for whom all things have been created, He who sustains by His powerful word, is found truly portrayed in this book as the Chief and Completer of faith. He is the first and the last letter of the alphabet, in which the redeemed learn to spell the name of their God, until they know as also they are known.
The title of Jehovah belongs to Him, to Him who was God manifested in flesh, and who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The unity of three distinct persons who are one God, and the divinity of these persons, are indicated more clearly perhaps in the first chapter of the Revelation than in several of the passages which are cited upon the subject. The fullness of the Holy Spirit joins his voice to that of the Father and the Son to salute the seven Churches. There is but one interest, but one thought, one and the same will, and one only action, although these things be distinct in the narration. The Father and the Son have the same name, the same throne, the same characteristics.
In the time of shadows, the Eternal Jehovah was "he who should be," as being eternal, and also about to be manifested in flesh. (Exod. 6:22And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: (Exodus 6:2).) This was fulfilled when Jesus descended from the Father's bosom as the Word made flesh; for at that time Jesus could say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Now having gone back to heaven, where He is acting for the Church, He cannot longer, in the Revelation, be called “He who shall be," but "He is the Risen One who is to come." Thus when the Father speaks, it is “He who is to come," (verse 4,) and it is the same with the Son in verse 8.
In Rev. 16:5,5And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. (Revelation 16:5) Jesus, though not yet rendered visible to all flesh, has left the throne of the Father to judge the enormities of the earth, and in this sense He is there; He is no more " He who is to come; " (He is come; ) but "He who is and who was holy."
"All kindreds of the earth shall wail” indicates, above all, the despair of the Gentiles and unconverted Jews, at the sight of the Son of man returning in the clouds. I think that other passages of the Old Testament speak of the conversion of Israel by the sight of the Lord. However, " all kindreds (or the tribes) of the laud " is said particularly of Israel or of the twelve scattered tribes.
"Every eye," or, as Isaiah says, "all flesh shall see Him." The Jews and the Gentiles, "and they also which pierced Him," shall see Him in His quality of Son of God in power, of Him who is the first and the last, in spite of His death, ever living. He is “the Almighty." (Compare 4:8.) The Lord no more veils Himself now with mildness and humility, but we find Him here identified with the everlasting God, just as we have already known Him in Heb. 1:3,3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3) Col. 1:15, 28,15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15)
28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: (Colossians 1:28) &c. The faith of every redeemed one awaits, in the person of Jesus, the revelation and the manifestation of his salvation and even of the deliverance of creation. The promise of the return of Jesus is here the first and the last thing revealed to faith. (1:4, 8; 22:20.) He is the first object that the Church sees in the midst of the candlesticks and the sole object of his hope. (2:1; 22:17.)
First Part.—" The things which thou least seen."
(Verse 9.)
The narrative of the first part begins properly with verse 9. John, the brother of the servants of God, of the prophets and members of the seven Churches, is presented as partaking with them in a community of services, of sufferings, and of patient waiting, and of the reign. Jesus always draws His witnesses along the path which He Himself has followed. It is not needful to say, that no believer shares in the sufferings of Christ as the Redeemer. This work which Jesus accomplished for us pertains to Him alone. But He has left after Him upon earth a testimony composed of believers, who ought to realize in their life, in the flesh, the position of Nazariteship which was that of their Savior in the same circumstances. It is the path through which the Church is called to pass, in order to enter into glory.
Our death to the flesh and the world, which issues in conflict by the power of the life of Christ in us and in the midst of the sanctifying trials of faith, is a spectacle which God is pleased to give to heaven and earth by means of the Church, to the praise of the glory of His grace. The power of the imperishable life of Christ risen demonstrates his victory over hell and death, by the continuance of its display in those whom He has chosen to be His witnesses on earth.
It is a question in Rev. 1:99I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:9) of the participation of John, with all his brethren, in a life of testimony, conflicts and sufferings, sustained by the hope of the return of the Lord Jesus in person and of the reign with Him.
The testimony that John bore to Jesus during his captivity in the isle of Patmos, could not be that of the Apocalypse before the moment when He received this revelation. It is not then a question here, as in verse I, of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ in the Apocalyptic sense, but it is a question of evangelization and of testimony to Jesus dead and risen. (Acts 1:2222Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. (Acts 1:22).)
It was when John suffered, because of the Gospel, that God revealed to Him things hidden up to that time in Himself, and those things belong all to Jesus and are for Jesus. God acts still after the same manner in the same circumstances; every time that the redeemed are in trial, the Apocalypse becomes to them an inexhaustible source of hope and refreshment.
John was the disciple to whom the waiting for Jesus had been peculiarly recommended in the last words of his Master. His perseverance and faithfulness in waiting for the Lord, as long as it pleased the Lord to leave Him on earth, was rewarded by the vision and revelation of the things which his pen hiss transmitted; also, John appears here disposed to glory in his afflictions rather than to complain of them.
(Verse 10.)
John says positively that he sees or became in the Spirit, but absolutely nothing authorizes us to add that he was caught up in the Spirit. I think that the power of the Spirit of God had concentrated all his faculties and all his thoughts, in order to direct them to the things which were about to be revealed to him.
Without wishing to explain all, I believe I can say, by comparing the expression of Paul in a case analogous to this, that to become in Spirit “is to be out of the body."
The emotion of Paul, in recounting his rapture to the third heavens, is that of a man in Christ, who already enjoyed the glory to come. He opposes the expression "in the body" to that of “out of the body," which is equivalent, in my opinion, to that of "in Spirit." Paul knows not if it was in the body or out of the body that he was caught up to the third heaven, but John can affirm of himself that be became in Spirit.
There is no other example, to my knowledge, of the expression “Lord’s day," and it must not be confounded with” the day of the Lord," which is always a day of vengeance and wrath against the rebellious. If we understand by "Lord's day" the first day of the week, it is then the morrow after the day of Levitical rest. In the Old Testament, the eighth day is outside the seven days of the week; it prefigures the day of resurrection, the day of our entrance into the active life of heaven, the millennial day for creation. It is in the Lord's day that Jesus, the first-born of the dead, is shown walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks and exercising his office in their midst.
The voice that Jesus takes here was, as it were, of a trumpet, and in that is a second character of resemblance between the preparations for the first circle of visions and the preparations for the order of the purely prophetic visions. (4:12.)
The abuse which the world has made of the longsuffering of God is going to be manifested. The voice sounding like a trumpet announces to the saints that the hour is come to awake from their slumber, for the night is far spent in the world, and the day of wrath is at hand.
The trumpet announces the gathering of the saints; it is the jubilee for heaven first, then the deliverance of the creation which shall have part in the liberty of the glory of the children of God at the time of the manifestation of the latter.
(Verse 11.)
The things which John looks at become, in verse 19, the things which John saw; they form the first of the three divisions of the book. The order to write extends then further, in verse 19, than here, where it is only a question of the vision of the Lord Jesus living and conqueror of death, manifested in His activity in the midst of the seven Churches.
The order to write is found again at the head of each of the seven Epistles, and five times in the rest of the book. The prohibition to write is made but once, as it were, to confirm the authority of Him who dictates, and the authenticity of the Revelation.
That which concerns the names and the geography of the seven Churches seems to us better placed in the introduction to chap; it is there we shall inquire into them.
(Verse 12.)
The person of the Lord Jesus is seven times manifested in the book.—1. Here.—2. Chap. 5. As the Lamb of God become a Lion; the Son of God; the Redeemer.—3. Chap. 8. The great High Priest; the Head of angels.—4. Chap. 10. The Angel of the Covenant; the Heir of God, invested with the kingdom, the King of ages.—5. Chap. 14. The Son of man, preparing the great victory of God on earth; the second Adam; the Shepherd of the remnants He has redeemed, and at once the Root and the Offspring of David.—6. Chap. 19. The mighty Victor of victors; the glorious Bridegroom, crowned, triumphing over his enemies with the Church and its retinue. —7. Chap. 20. The Judge of the risen dead, in His quality of second Adam, Son of man.
In chap. 22:12 and following verses, it is not an appearing of the Lord, but the voice of Jesus the Branch, crowned with all His fruits.
(Verses 13-16.)
We shall examine, in their place, such of the attributes of the Lord as are found repeated at the head of the seven Epistles, and only concern ourselves for the moment with those which are not in this case.
The Lord certainly furnishes His betrothed with the oil of grace and the fire of the Spirit, all that is needful for sustaining and increasing her: it is not, however, precisely in that office He is presented here. But we see Him in His attributes of great High Priest, of Judge and Head over the house of God. He has nothing [here] to do with the world, but He declares the state of the Churches and judges them after their pattern, which is before God.(type, Deut. 23:1414For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. (Deuteronomy 23:14).)
Jesus is the Son of man glorified in heaven, which was an insupportable blasphemy to the Jews; therefore, they did not cease to rise with fury against this truth, which was preached to them either as a prophecy and proof of the murder which they premeditated and accomplished, or as a means of raising their hearts on high, and of detaching them from the things of which they were become idolaters.
When He appeared to Isaiah, it was as the Jehovah God, who comes, and whose light denounced and judged the apostasy of Israel.
As Son of man in heaven, Jesus is especially dear to the Church, as the assured pledge of her own glorification, that is to say, of our estate of exaltation far superior to the innocent estate of the first Adam and his dignity of King of the earth only.
Jesus, the Son of man glorified in the midst of the seven candle-sticks, is not merely the Redeemer and Mediator. He has received authority to execute ALL judgment as the Son of man, and He employs this authority in the Church first of all. God's judgment begins with His house; and we are judged here below according to men, in the flesh, that we may live according to God in the Spirit, and that we may not be condemned with the world.
Such is the privilege of the churches, in the midst of which walks the Son of man; and that which renders His office of Judge so precious is, that having been Himself tempted here below in the weakness of the flesh, He can, with full understanding, exercise mercy and compassion toward our infirmities. Though jealous of the glory of God and the purity of the candlesticks, Jesus, while abiding a faithful witness in these two respects, can represent to the Father our feebleness and the power of our enemies, as an advocate instructed by experience in the smallest details of the cause He defends.
The Lord is clothed with the rocket, or the robe which was put under the ephod. This garment was assigned to the High Priest. (Exod. 28:31-3531And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. 33And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: 34A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 35And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not. (Exodus 28:31‑35).) In Isaiah 61:10,10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10) we see Jesus arrayed with all His magnificence as the glorious Bridegroom. In Zech. 3:4,4And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. (Zechariah 3:4) Jesus, delivered from our defilements and justified by his resurrection, is clothed with the raiment.
The golden girdle at the breasts indicates the exercise of strength and power, which maintains with affection the state befitting the golden candlesticks. (Jer.1:17, and the context.)
The head and white hair are the characters of the Eternal, as the Ancient of days, that is to say, of Jesus, by means of whom the ages were ordered. The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. “With the ancient is wisdom."
The wool and snow indicate a divine wisdom in his purity. (Is. 1:18.)
The voice like great waters announces imminent judgments.
The absence of every crown here is so much the more remarkable, as Aaron wore a sort of crown. It was the plate of gold which was so called. And yet Aaron was not at all king over his brethren in the theocratic economy. No more is Jesus ever [presented] as the King of the Church, but when the latter is formed and gathered, she becomes Queen, joint-heir with Him who is the King of the nations, and who, as such, at His return will wear many diadems. (1:6; 19.)
The vision of these verses has many connections with that of Daniel 10:7-137And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 8Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. 9Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. 10And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. 11And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 12Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. (Daniel 10:7‑13); it must have produced an effect very solemn and affecting on the beloved disciple, who had witnessed the death of Jesus, after having so often leaned on his breast.
(Verse 17.)
Although John was in the Spirit, and I suppose, as such, in heaven, he became as a dead man. He was capacitated by the power of the Spirit to understand and see the things of heaven, but he was not a risen one, delivered from all fleshly weakness. Jesus touches the dead and raises them again. He takes care to strengthen those whom He would instruct. The good words "fear not" are repeated more than three hundred times in Scripture to men in the flesh, and it is a very humbling thing for us to be constantly experiencing our want of confidence and love toward. Him who so tenderly loves us. His presence is able to annihilate everything in us which is not yet made conformed to His image.
(Verse 18. See Chap. 2:8.)
(Verse 19.)
This includes the division of the book, as we have explained, and closes the first part.
(Verse 20.)
This verse contains the explanation of the symbol of the seven stars and that of the seven candlesticks.
The seven stars are a mystery; they are the angels of the seven churches (or angels of the seven churches.)
Jesus, the archangel or Head of the angels, holds in His dependence seven angels, figured by seven stars. The stars are lights or subaltern powers.
The absence of the article "the” is important enough. It makes manifest that the question is not about men established and already known as ordinary messengers between the seven churches of Asia. These are not men; for, on the one hand, there is not a single example of them in the New Testament, and, on the other, when, in the Old Testament, men are called angels, the thing is always clearly explained. If John had had to write to a human messenger or to an officially appointed ministry, it would have been much more natural to say: Write to the angel of the church who is at.... But the Lord says, Write to the angel of the church which is at....
If one were permitted to replace here the word “angel" by that of Teacher, Bishop, or Pastor, which is attempted to be done in the first verse of our chapter, for example, or in chap. 22:6,15, or elsewhere! And if we cannot in places where there is no mystery, how much less here when the word "angel" is precisely the definition of a mystery!
The advocates of clericalism, and, above all, those of episcopacy, have long had recourse to the seven angels of the apocalyptic churches to strengthen their views, and thence men have deduced the necessity of keeping and even revering wicked overseers at the head of the churches. It seems to me much more in keeping with the general tenor of the Spirit of the Revelation, to take the angels of the churches for that which they are said to be,—for angels,—or ministering spirits, messengers of the heavenly and invisible world.
If it be asked how the angels of the churches discharged their office, I answer that I know nothing about it, any more than I can explain the office of the angel of the waters, or the angel who has authority over the fire, (14:18; 16:5,) or of so many other angelic ministries or powers who net so frequently in the Book. I believe that it is precisely the ignorance of where they were on so mysterious a subject which has induced commentators to adopt a gloss from which they could reap something; but which, after all, has embroiled far more than cleared up the true explanation of the Revelation. We can understand what bishops over churches are, but we know not what angels of churches are, and that induces us to replace the unknown by the known; an interpretation which, without removing the difficulty, raises out of it a crowd of others.
Since the angels have been changed into bishops, or pastors, or ministers, or councils of elders,—for almost every sect has desired to find here a niche for its own clergy,—the language of the Revelation, in this passage, is become almost unintelligible.
Thus then, in our sense, the angels of this verse are angels, and not something else. Much might be said upon the ministry of these spirits, whether in protecting and serving the saints, or in chastising their adversaries. It is a study which each can make, Bible in hand, and we return from it to that which more directly refers to our subject.
God makes His angels winds and ministers a flame of fire. The angels are " ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." The Jews, become Christians and possessing the Holy Ghost, considered the angels as representatives (or doubles) of the saints dead, or hindered from showing themselves in person. All the true disciples of the Lord are the little ones of whom He has said "their angels do always behold the face of His Father which is in heaven,"
In the seven epistles, Jesus had the angel written to sometimes in the singular, sometimes in the plural, as representing in him alone a collective body. “Repent" (thou!)—I say unto you....I am coming unto thee. Thou art there. Ye shall have tribulation. Be thou watchful. Antipas was slain among you. I will give to each of you." And always, in speaking to the angel of a church, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
I believe that, in general, the angels are heavenly messengers charged with keeping up spiritual and divine relations between the visible world and the invisible world.
They maintain here, between the Lord and the seven churches, the communications relating to the testimony and the word of the Revelation.
The angels transmit the message, written by John under the dictation of Jesus, to the witnesses chosen of God on the earth. The intelligent believers listen to hear that which the Spirit says to the churches by the interposition of the messengers; they become thus true witnesses of the Lord.
If we consider the seven angels united as a totality in the hand of Jesus, they personify the intelligent and responsible assembly. Thus regarded, they stand before God to render Him account.