INTRODUCTORY
Previous to the opening of the seventh Seal to the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, and to the pouring out of the seventh Vial, a break in the course of judgment in each case is witnessed. The briefest pause is the Vial one (Rev. 16:1515Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. (Revelation 16:15)). The Trumpet interlude is the longest (Rev. 10-11:13).
The seventh Seal, under which no separate action or judgment is witnessed, introduced the Trumpet series of divine chastisements. Similarly the third Woe, or seventh Trumpet, prepares the way for the final outpour of God’s wrath upon the apostate scene. These last septenary judgments, that is, the Vials, are of an open, manifested character. They are clearly seen by all to issue from Heaven. God is owned as the source of these horrors, not in true repentance, but in open blasphemy of God and of His Name. In the episode between the sixth and seventh Trumpets we read, “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets” (Rev. 10:77But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)). The sounding of the seventh Trumpet brings the patience of God to a close. The apostate power on earth is to be openly dealt with, not providentially, as under the two previous series of judgments. Heaven and earth, angels and men, witness that these last strokes under the Vials are inflicted by the hand of God. Hence the sounding of the seventh Trumpet heralds the pouring out of the concentrated wrath of God on the guilty and apostate scene. The blows are short, sharp, and unsparing (Rev. 16).
It has been held that as the immediate result of the seventh presence angel sounding his Trumpet the Lord takes to Himself His great power; at once commencing His millennial reign. But this we conceive is a mistake. The active hostility of the Beast against the saints ceased with the expiration of the 1260 days, the exact period of suffering measured by days and months (Rev. 11:3; 13:5-83And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3)
5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:5‑8)). This leaves seventeen and a half days to make up the three and a half years needed to complete the seventieth week of Daniel, that eventful week of seven literal years (Dan. 9:2727And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27)). The Vials are poured out during these seventeen and a half days.
The power of the Beast to further harass God’s saints comes to an end when the angel begins to pour the Vials out. How can the Beast persecute when he is himself the direct subject of these last judgments? We gather that Revelation 11:15-1815And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:15‑18) does not present events which directly come under the seventh Trumpet, but rather groups millennial and eternal scenes, and celebrates in the near anticipation Christ’s universal reign and God’s triumph. The kingdom is anticipated, not yet come. After the sounding of the seventh angel the Vials are successively poured out. Thus the Trumpets succeed the Seals, and the Vials follow the Trumpets.
But before Rome becomes the direct subject of intense judicial dealing (Rev. 16) the public intervention of God is witnessed in symbol and word (Rev. 10), and another testimony is shown, one hitherto undisclosed in any previous vision (Rev. 11). This testimony has a character peculiar to itself (vs. 4), and is a much more restricted one than either that of Revelation 6:99And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (Revelation 6:9), or the yet more extensive one shown in Revelation 7. The city of Jerusalem, then trodden down under the iron heel of the Gentile oppressor, becomes the sphere of the operation of the very special testimony of Revelation 11.
GLORIOUS DESCRIPTION OF THE MIGHTY DESCENDING ANGEL
1-3. “And I saw another strong angel coming down out of the Heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow upon his head, and his countenance as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and having in his hand a little opened book. And he set his right foot on the sea, and the left upon the earth, and cried with a loud voice as a lion roars. And when he cried the seven thunders uttered their own voices.” Things are drawing to a close. The half-week of sorrow (three years and a half) is nearly spent, but its last hours reveal the world in mad and open rebellion against God, and His saints on whom the Beast and the Antichrist wreak their fury. Before, however, the last dregs of the Lord’s vengeance are drunk by the Gentile and Jewish apostates and their dupes this consolatory vision breaks through the dark clouds of judgment. It is a stern reminder to the world that, in spite of the raging of the wicked, the government of the earth is the just claim of the Creator and one about to be made good in power. But the vision is also one eminently fitted to strengthen and console believers, and especially suffering saints, for the same power which will crush the enemy exalts the sufferers to honor.
The vision is easily read. It is one of the most profound in the book, yet withal exceedingly simple in its main features. The mysteriousness of the Trumpet visions here disappears.
1. “Another strong angel” carries us back in thought to Revelation 5:22And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Revelation 5:2), but the only thing common to both references is the epithet “strong.” In the earlier text a created being endowed with might is referred to, whereas in the passage before us an uncreated Being of divine majesty and power is witnessed. It is the Lord Himself. We have had already a vision of the Lord in angelic, priestly intercession (Rev. 8:33And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. (Revelation 8:3)); here He asserts in angelic power His undisputed claim to the dominion of the earth.
1. “Coming down out of the Heaven,” not simply “from” it as a point of departure, but “out” of it as being His native home (1 Cor. 15:4747The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47) RV; John 3:1313And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13), last clause); “the Heaven” fixes a definite locality. The insertion of the preposition from and the omission of the definite article the in the text of the Authorized Version may seem to some veriest trifles, but for those maintaining the verbal inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures, as we trust all our readers do, an unwarranted interpolation, or the omission of an inspired letter or part of one, jot and tittle (Matt. 5:1818For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)), must be regarded as a distinct loss. God warns and threatens in unusually solemn terms against tampering with the inspired Word, either in adding to it (Rev. 22:1818For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (Revelation 22:18)) or in taking from it (vs. 19).
In the descent of the strong angel to earth is intimated the close of providential dealing. The former scene of prophecy was viewed as having its source in Heaven; here the scene of operation is openly shown to be on earth. The whole prophetic scene under Heaven is openly and publicly occupied. The Lord in thus coming out of His place to establish His world-wide kingdom on earth changes the point of view, which in the vision is earth, not Heaven.
1. “Clothed with a cloud.” In the ancient oracles the cloud figures largely as representing the presence and majesty of Jehovah. There is great fullness and boldness in the symbols employed to set forth the glorious majesty of the Lord, symbols, too, which in their interpretation leave little room for discussion. “Clothed with a cloud” is a public sign of His majesty.
1. “The rainbow upon his head.” The same rainbow as previously witnessed by the Seer (Rev. 4: 3). In the earlier reference a rainbow encircles the throne and its august Occupant, here the rainbow with its many and variegated colors and glories rests on the head of the angel. The use of the definite article the in our text (R.V.) connects the scene of Revelation 10 in some of its essential features with that of Revelation 4. It is the same rainbow, “this crest of divinity” which surrounds the throne (Rev. 4) and the head (Rev. 10). Amidst the apocalyptic scenes of judgment God’s remembrance of mercy is constant and unfailing. The bow in the cloud, that ancient token of divine goodness (Gen. 9), here reappears, and just at the time and season when most needed.
1. “His countenance as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.” Substantially the description here is that of the glory of the Son of Man in Revelation 1:15-1615And 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. (Revelation 1:15‑16). There, however, the feet of the glorious One are mentioned before His countenance. Both descriptions apply to the same blessed Person in different connections. In the former (Rev. 1) the expression of His character and glory as man are set forth. In the latter (Rev. 10) the majesty of angelic strength and glory are witnessed. Supreme majesty and government are reflected in His face, while “His feet as pillars of fire” indicate stability and firmness, the unbending holiness of His judicial action.
2. “Having in his hand a little opened book.” In Revelation 5 Jehovah holds in His right hand a closed seven-sealed book or roll; here the angel holds in his hand an open book. Why closed in the one and open in the other? In the former hitherto unrevealed counsels of God are successively disclosed by the Lamb, whereas in the latter “the book is open as part of well-known prophecy, and now brought to a direct issue on known ground.” Further, this is a “little” book, diminutive in contrast to the larger book of Revelation 5, which was so full that it was written without and within. A book both in size and contents larger and fuller than the one in the hand of the angel.
2. “He set his right foot on the sea, and the left upon the earth.” Three times in the course of this vision the angel is seen standing on the sea and the earth, and in each instance the mention of the sea precedes that of the earth (vss. 2, 5, 8), whereas in other parts of the Apocalypse the order is reversed (Rev. 7:1-3; 14:7; 5:13; 12:121And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. (Revelation 7:1‑3)
7Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:7)
13And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)
12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12), and so forth). This latter is certainly the natural order, that is, the earth and the sea. We have already remarked upon the force of these symbols; the earth denoting the civilized portion of the globe, the sea referring to the masses of mankind in an unformed, uncivilized condition. But in our passage the sea, the turbulent heathen, is first named. Is it random or divine precision that the right foot is set down on the rebellious nations and peoples, and the left on the professed scene of light and government? How firm the tread of the angel? How complete the action! How thorough the subjugation of all to Him! He set those pillars, or columns, of fire on all beneath the sun. Right and might, both in exercise, are characteristic of the significant act of the angel as He takes possession of the whole scene under Heaven.
3. “When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their own voices.” The cry of the angel was a cry to Jehovah which is immediately answered. The answer is one of power and judgment. Thunder is God’s voice in judgment, the expression of His authority therein (1 Sam. 7:1010And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. (1 Samuel 7:10); Psa. 18:1313The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. (Psalm 18:13); Job 26:1414Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand? (Job 26:14)). “The seven thunders” intimate a full and perfect response to the angel’s cry. “The seven” gives precision and definiteness to the answering voices of the thunders. It was not a crash like the thunder of nature, but these thunders intelligently expressed the mind of the God of judgment, they “uttered their own voices.”
THE SEER FORBIDDEN TO WRITE
4. “And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, and I heard a voice out of the Heaven saying, Seal what the seven thunders have spoken, and write them not.” The prophet was about to record the words of the thunders. He heard and understood.
This vision is full of voices. That of the angel of the thunders, and another “out of Heaven.” This was a voice of authority, “Seal what the seven thunders have spoken, and write them not.” Those to us unrevealed communications were to be sealed. It was not the time to make them known. The exact import of these revelations has not been disclosed; probably they are embodied in the after communications directly concerning the end. There are two commands addressed to the Seer: first, to seal up the sayings of the thunder; second, to write them not (compare with Dan. 8:26; 12:926And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. (Daniel 8:26)
9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. (Daniel 12:9)). It may be, as in the case of the Hebrew prophet, that this part of the apocalyptic vision, containing the unwritten words of the angel and of the seven thunders, is “closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Sealing these prophetic revelations supposes that the end is a long way off. If the end is near, then the prophecies are not to be sealed. In one case the words are sealed, for the end is far off (Dan. 12:99And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. (Daniel 12:9)); in another the sayings are not sealed, for the end is nigh (Rev. 22:1010And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 22:10)).
SOLEMN OATH OF THE ANGEL
5-7. “And the angel whom I saw stand on the sea and on the earth lifted up his right hand to the Heaven. And aware by Him that lives to the ages of ages, Who created the Heaven and the things that are in it, and the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be no longer delay. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the Trumpet, the mystery of God also shall be completed, as He has made known the glad tidings to His own bondmen the prophets.” One of the most sublime of apocalyptic actions is here recorded. How strengthening and how consolatory! We turn from the din and angry strife amongst the nations to the eternal purpose of God respecting this earth. It belongs by native right and purchase to Christ. What a sight! Sea and earth under His feet, the book of closing prophecy in His left hand, while He lifts up His right to Heaven, and swears by the ever-living God and Creator that there should be no longer delay.
It is not “no longer time” as in the Authorized Version and retained in the Revised Version. The translators have corrected their blunder by substituting for “time” delay in the margin. Either the text or margin is right, for both cannot be. After the accomplishment of the oath of the angel at least a thousand years run their course ere time ceases and eternity opens; hence it cannot mean that there shall be no longer “time.” Tregelles, Stuart, Darby, Kelly, and a host of others competent to judge, read “no longer delay.” The meaning is that “man’s day,” which commenced with the Ascension of the Lord and is closed up by His Advent in power, is drawing to an end. The age of secret, providential dealing with evil is about to close. For 2000 years God has not openly interfered in the government of the world. The Church is a ruin, and the world a wreck. It is the time when the will of man is everywhere rampant. It is, too, the time of God’s patience with evil, the era of His long-suffering with men. There will be no longer delay in setting up the kingdom and taking the government of all creation into His own hands. Man’s day is to be closed up in sharp and severe judgment, and the Lord’s reign and kingdom set up. The oath of the angel not only assures us of this, but guarantees the immediate execution of it. There is to be no longer delay in bringing the present age with all its evil to an end.
7. “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the Trumpet, the mystery of God also shall be completed.” What is signified by the mystery of God? Does it not seem strange that Satan has been allowed for 6000 years to wrap and twist his coils around the world, to work evil and spoil and mar the work of God? What havoc he has wrought! He is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air. God’s saints have ever been the objects of his fiercest malignity. Is it not a mystery why God, the God of righteousness and holiness, allows evil to go unpunished and His own people to be crushed and broken on every hand? Truly this is the mystery of God. Is it that He is indifferent to the wrong, indifferent to the sorrows of His people? Nay, that were impossible. God bears with evil till the hour of judgment arrives, when He will avenge the cry of His elect, and come out of His place to punish the wicked. The checks and restraints upon evil now are unseen as to their source, and are only of partial application. Everything in the world and in the Church is out of order save what God by His Spirit produces.
Now, however, this mystery of God is about to be finished, and God by His Son, the Heir of all things, will wrest the government of the world from the iron grasp of Satan, confine him as a prisoner in the abyss for 1000 years, finally casting him into the lake of fire for eternity, and then rule and reign in manifested power and glory. Evil now tolerated and allowed, spite of numerous checks to hinder its coming to a height, will then be openly punished. The mystery is at end. Christ is about to reign.
This is indeed glad tidings proclaimed to His prophets of old, not declared by them (although they did that as their books testify), but to them, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants, His prophets” (Amos 3:77Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)). The public intervention of God on behalf of His afflicted saints to crush the power of evil, to expel the usurper Satan from the earth which he has been, so far, permitted to destroy morally and physically, and to set up the world in more than primitive beauty and order: such is God’s decree. This was the glad tidings which roused the energies, stimulated the faith, brightened the hope, and gladdened the hearts of the prophets of God in all ages. The same blessed hope with added glories is our strength to-day.
Not exactly when the seventh angel sounds, but in the days of the voice of the angel, the mystery of God shall be completed.
THE LITTLE BOOK OF DIVINE COUNSEL AND THE RECOMMENCEMENT OF JOHN’S PROPHETIC MINISTRY
8-11. “And the voice which I heard from the Heaven (was) again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the little book which is opened in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth. And I went to the angel, saying to him to give me the little book. And he says to me, Take and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth as honey, sweet; and when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter. And (he) says to me, Thou must prophesy again as to peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings.” The prisoner of Patmos again hears the voice from “the Heaven,” the dwelling of God. The limbs of John may have been fettered, and the wild waves of the sea dash against his rocky prison, but the island was no lonely place for the man whose soul was wrapped up in the visions of God, whose ears heard the songs of the redeemed, and the spoken worship of angels, and who was personally addressed out of Heaven again and again. He is commanded to go to the angel and take out of his hand the little opened book. Instantly he complied. The Speaker was none other than God Himself, and hence obedience was prompt and unqualified. The majesty of the angel had no terrors for John. Undismayed by the divine dignity and grandeur of the all-glorious One Who held the book in His hand the Seer goes in the authority of the Creator and asks for the book. The soul who is obedient, who yields unquestioning submission to the expressed will of God, is for the time omnipotent. He walks and acts in the strength of the Creator, the Maker of Heaven and earth. Fear! He knows it not. The invisible God, seen by faith, makes him invincible in the path of obedience, “immortal till his work is done.”
A further command is given by the angel. The first command was from Heaven to take the book, the second was from earth to eat it. Why bitter in the belly, and sweet in the mouth? Prophecy is both bitter and sweet. We are here dealing with symbols. There should be no more difficulty in understanding the prophet eating the book than in Jeremiah eating the words of Jehovah (Jer. 15:1616Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)). To eat is to make the thing one’s own, to incorporate it into one’s being (John 6:49-5849Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:49‑58)). The Christian prophet eating the roll, and finding it both sweet and bitter, reminds us of a similar symbolic action by the Jewish prophet (Ezek. 2:8; 3:1-38But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. (Ezekiel 2:8)
1Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. 2So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. 3And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. (Ezekiel 3:1‑3)). The first effect of prophetic communication, the roll in the mouth, was sweetness, the sweetness of honey; but as the revelations are weighed, the judgments they announce considered, the next effect is to cause bitterness and sorrow. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens, as it contains announcements both of joy and grief.
Finally, the Seer was to recommence his prophetic ministry, not to “peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings,” but concerning them. He was to prophesy of them. This we find him doing in the following chapter; hence the last verse of Revelation 10 naturally leads us into new scenes and circumstances, of which this later prophetic ministry treats. Its character we shall now, through grace, examine.