The First Angel Announces Everlasting Glad Tidings.
“And I saw another angel.” The use of the word “another” is necessary because of other angels, which have been mentioned previously; and we find this, with those others, form a series. That this one is first of a group of three, is evidenced by “second” and “third” to those angels which follow this one.
In these days (antecedent to “the Rapture”), the Gospel has the distinctive feature which is attached to its titles. It is The Gospel of the Grace of God (Acts 20:2424But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)); the Gospel of God (Rom. 1:11Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Romans 1:1)); the Gospel of His Son (Rom. 1:99For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; (Romans 1:9)); the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)); just as before Pentecost it was the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew, Mark, and Luke everywhere; Mark connecting it with Isaiah’s ministry). But here it is not the Gospel before Pentecost, nor the Gospel between Pentecost and the Rapture, but the everlasting, eternal, never-terminating Gospel, viz., “Fear God, and give glory to Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the water-springs.” The reason of its announcement is well defined— “The hour of His judgment is come.” The hearers are equally well defined— “Earth dwellers, or earth-settlers” (for the word slightly varies from the regular form), and “every nation, and tribe, and people, and tongue.” It is here announced in a loud voice by the angel, in view of immediate judgment, but as a testimony it will abide after the judgments are passed, although the class called “earth-dwellers” will no longer exist; for the term “earth dweller” is a contrastive title, as long as there is a class in existence whose final destination, if not already there, is heaven. Nations, tribes, peoples, tongues, will always be on earth, and it will be their home, divinely appointed; and hence those who are called “earth-dwellers” because they have no divine title to it, will either be swept away by judgment after this announcement, or else, accepting it, will be reckoned among the nations. Sealed ones are already safe, and palm-bearers are already safe; for all the angels and all the elders and all the living creatures have worshipped God about them, as we saw in the first great division of the Book. The Lamb is not mentioned in the announcement; but in point of fact there could be no announcement at all if He had not glorified God first, and finished the work given Him to do. It is the “MY WORD,” that identifies with Him; “MY NAME,” that gathers to Him; “MY FATHER’S HOUSE” that heavenly saints are brought into. But, after all, it is an immense thing in itself to hear such glad tidings; for the creature, subject to vanity, to be invited to God’s everlasting purpose of salvation through the Seed of the woman, who is to reign everywhere.
The term “Everlasting Gospel” raises inquiry in some minds. Many, especially those who are supposing that the world is to be converted and turned into a Millennium before Christ comes, look upon it as the same message that has been proclaimed with such perpetual regularity for so many years in their own hearing; people with whom “hearing the Gospel” seems to be the “end,” rather than the “means” to an end. Others have a hazy kind of speculation as to a chance of some kind existing for those who have already let slip their day of grace here. Let both classes divest themselves of their dreams. Christ is not coming to take a kingdom of man’s providing, to crown an edifice raised by missionary box and bazaar. And as to the other class, it worthily accords with ideas of non-eternity of punishment, to have an eternity of privilege always available. Such thoughts are, however, totally foreign to the character of the Gospel proclaimed by the angel in mid-heaven. At that time every one is called upon to worship the beast. If they do, it will be certain perdition, so certain that the beast himself is consigned to the burning flame 1,000 years before even Satan. At such a moment a compassionate God, always thoughtful of His creatures, even in time of judgment, sets in motion what has been true at all times, and will be while He has creatures in existence, “The world is MINE and the fullness thereof...., Call upon ME in the day of trouble” (Ps. 50:12, 15).
The Three Angels. The Second Angel Announces Babylon’s Fall.
“And another, a second, angel followed, saying, Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen.” In the Prophecy of Isaiah it is announced thus: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground.” The double use of the word “fallen” no doubt follows the Hebrew use, which intensifies the utterance by repetition. But there is doubtless more than this, for Babylon is looked upon all through Scripture as the selected instrument of Satan’s power to disseminate evil, as Israel and the Church were intended to disseminate and show forth God’s light and truth. When Israel was the witness selected by God to show forth to mankind that He was One, Babylon was the exponent and seductress by her multiplicity of idols, and ultimately carried captive God’s people. So with the Church. No sooner was violence found to be powerless against God’s testimony, than deceit, in the mystic Babylon, carried all before it. So that in Babylon the whole machinery of the Devil—manifest and mystic, but mostly mystic—has been carried on. Mostly mystic, because it is the nature of evil to work in the dark, as it is the nature of God to act in the light. Nay, He is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Satan and his angels have been the rulers of the darkness of this age. No wonder, then, that the fall of this enormous power has always been, even in the past, a matter of the deepest interest to mankind. Mighty and powerful, relying on her broad walls, on the outer one of which a chariot and four horses could turn round with ease, she was secure till God quenched her manifested power that His purposes might be accomplished. And it was then that her occult powers of mischief strengthened, until all the nations have been made to drink of the wine of the fury of her fornications.
This combination of words, expressing the indignation of God’s anger, needs a little elucidation, lest “anger,” “wrath,” “fury,” etc., should lose their force through lack of power to distinguish each from other. Let it be understood that Rom. 1 reveals two things very specially concerning the Gospel of God. First, His righteousness to every believer. Second, His wrath against all unrighteousness. It is revealed from heaven. Christ is the display of God’s righteousness; Babylon the display of all unrighteousness. Hence the wrath. Where wine is coupled with it, it is to convey the thought of the fury or frenzy produced by the effects of strong drink; to make that which is a natural affection of the soul, and right in its place, assume a punitive characteristic. Thus Jeremiah 25:15: “Take the cup of the wine of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad.”
Questions have been raised by some respecting chapters 17 and 18, concerning mystic Babylon and city Babylon. Having been accustomed in early days to attribute everything of Babylon, as well as everything of the beasts, to Popery, they now, finding mystic Babylon fulfills the requirements of the Thyatira Church, and of which the beast is the destroyer, do not know what to do with city Babylon, and so they have supposed that a city is to be hastily erected on the Euphrates at the beginning of Anti-christ’s reign, and to be destroyed coincidently with his destruction. Now, the Apocalyptic record leads to no such conclusion. What it does lead us to note is, that a vast and universal system of wickedness, which has corrupted the world and the Church, receives its judgment partly at the hand of man (Rev. 17) and partly at the hand of God (Rev. 18, see verses 5, 8, 20). The Church has been ravaged by the diabolic influences of mystic Babylon; the kingdoms of this world by the same Satanic power that ravaged the Church: so that Christ has been opposed in respect to the two things His heart is set upon. God gives Him the kingdom, God judges His adversary. Man lent himself to corrupt the Church. By man, energized by Satan, shall that system be eaten up and burnt so as to disappear.
The authorities do not admit the word “city” into the section under review; neither is it needed. The downfall of the whole system is announced by this second angel, not merely one of its phases.
The Three Angels. The Third Angel Warns Against Worshipping the Beast.
The action of the third angel is of the deepest importance to all who pass through that awful seven years known as the Crisis Week. The first angel had announced glad tidings of salvation; the second the glad news of Babylon’s fall; the third warns not only of perdition, but of the most excruciating agony day and night, for ever and ever. That condition shall be the lot of all who worship the beast and its image, and receive the mark of its name. Death, therefore, is declared to be the only alternative. Hence, doubtless, the gracious provision of our always merciful and compassionate God, and the sweet words of tender encouragement that follow: for be it ever remembered, that God, who has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, has the pity of a loving Father to His children; and although His holiness and righteousness absolutely demand the extermination of the vile, the rebel, the daring blasphemer; the death of His saints is very precious in His sight. The furnace of affliction may be, as it is, the result of their own doings: nevertheless, He will make it turn to their ultimate blessing if they will but place themselves in His hands.
“The beast—his image, his mark” Solemn thought! All the power of Satan lies behind these three things. They are so arranged that no one shall escape. People must be polluted by one or the other. It is true, that death is the penalty, as it was in the days of the former kings of Rome; but the test is to be of a far more searching character. Then it was the image of the emperor; here, whoever escapes beast or image is convicted by the mark. If anyone have not the mark, he can neither buy provision, clothing, nor conveyance; anything for which payment has to be made, unless he can show the mark. Neither can he sell property; nor, if he be a merchant or shopkeeper, can he vend his ware without displaying the mark. Not by deputy, but personally. No shirking, no evasion, so common now. The object is to bring every one into the net. The Devil’s object is to exterminate all that own God in any form. God’s purpose is to consign to perdition and torment all that own the Devil. It is the last great test before the vials are poured out, and the King—the rightful, sovereign Lord—comes to take His own. There is only one door of escape, DEATH. “Blessed are the dead (that die in the Lord), from henceforth”; they, and they only rest; their works follow them; they shall not lose their reward.
Shall we say that the voice from heaven, which says to John, “Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth,” is that of Jesus, our Lord? Well may we do so; as it is the Spirit that adds His “yea,” and speaks of rest and reward. How gracious to put this message in the prophecy! for it is no part of it. These traits of our absent Lord, which we get from time to time, amidst these judgments, are gems of grace flashing their beauty into our hearts.
It is a little singular that certain Christians should say these words over their saved and unsaved dead, seeing that its force has not yet come into action, and if it had, it is limited to those who die in the Lord. Those who do not, although it is true their works do follow them; yet rest, alas! there will be none. After death the judgment (see Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)), and no rest between death and judgment, as we gather from Luke 16:23, 24,23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Luke 16:23‑24) which is not a parable. The only true rest must be found now, or it will never be found hereafter. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST” (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)). And then, all those “good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:1010For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)) shall follow us, for “your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:5858Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58)).
The Two Angels. The Harvest of the Earth.
“By two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” We have just had a three-fold testimony, two of blessing, one of warning. Now we have a two-fold testimony of pure judgment. It is not the King, yet a cloud, symbol of the divine presence, is seen. It is white, for righteousness, pure righteousness, is its characteristic: mercy is no part of it. Like the white throne further on there is no redeeming trait, no blood, no mercy. Upon the cloud sits one like Son of Man, not “the” nor “a.” It is characteristic, rather than personal, here indicated. Upon His head a golden crown; divine, victorious righteousness. In His hand a sharp, efficient unsparing reaping-hook. An angel comes out of the temple (it will be remembered that in the second great division of the Apocalypse, all judgment comes from the temple, not from the throne), and he cries with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for reaping time has come; for the harvest of the earth is fully matured. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.”
Hear the prophet Micah (1:2), “Hear, ye peoples, all of you; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as was before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel.”
Too much stress cannot be laid upon the fact that, in this second division of the Apocalypse, we are under judgment from the temple. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble. Let us review the past and get a firm grip of the situation. God created the earth for His own glory; He set Adam therein, and put all into his hand. Result: Ruin. Then, leaving open a door of approach, He waited. Result: All flesh corrupted itself, so that He had to bring in the Flood. Introducing Government, He made a new start in Noah. Result: Babel—gross idolatry. So, two thousand years having run, He selected an idolater, cleansed him from his idols by His Word, took him into confidence, called him “friend.” Knowing what was in man, He left no room for final ruin, although He well knew that, as far as man was concerned, ruin would result, as night follows day. But He left no room for final ruin, for His purpose is as certain as that day follows night. So He made an unconditional promise. And, as soon as Isaac was born, He sware by Himself that in Isaac should all the nations of the earth be blessed. Well, Jacob spoils all. Crooked in his mind and thoughts, he dares to make a covenant with God. “If God will be with me... then shall the Lord be my God.” Alas, alas! Ruin; nothing but ruin, multiplied by twelve sons after him. God’s unconditional promise and oath forgotten, man will actually undertake to be and to do for God! Two thousand years more roll by. Christ, Isaac’s Seed, has come. Two of Jacob’s representatives, Judah and Benjamin, kill Him. Ruin. But God must be faithful to Himself! He will. He is. Out of a dead Christ He creates the Church, and puts it safe in heaven. Two thousand more years roll by. Then entering into controversy with Jacob, He empties the earth of all its inhabitants, save a selected few, with which to people the earth afresh, so that He may fulfill His promise and oath made to Abraham, His friend, that “in thy seed” [Isaac (Christ)] “shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Now the harvest and the vintage ought to be plain. Men may forget the program, if they have ever taken the pains to read it. God does not.
Will it be credited that a large number of Christians are taught that the harvest here reaped is what they are to look forward to? Will it be credited that another class are taught that to go through the tribulation is to suffer with Christ? Anything, except God’s truth!
The Two Angels. Vintage of the Earth.
Again we have a two-fold testimony of pure judgment, making seven angels in all, and answering in their moral aspect to the seven vials to be poured out by seven angels, all of them out of the temple.
In the harvest of the earth it was necessary to represent the One having the sickle, as like unto [a] Son of Man; and that the white cloud should betoken His prerogatives. Here it is not necessary, for no question ever existed about God’s Vine. “Let me sing for My well-beloved a song of My beloved touching His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and He made a trench about it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard. What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the fence thereof, and it shall be trodden down: and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain not rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant: and He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry” (Isa. 5:1-71Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. (Isaiah 5:1‑7)) “And another angel came out from the altar, having power over the fire” (of the altar); that is, that which consumes before God in blessing to man becomes the direst of judgments if it is turned against man. “And cries with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust [in] thy sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripened. And the angel put his sickle to the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast the bunches into the great winepress of the fury of God.” So that that which should have set forth the true profession of God’s name upon the earth, has resulted only in wrath to man, who has killed the Heir of the vineyard, and thrust Him out of the inheritance. “And the winepress was trodden without the city” (He suffered without the gate), “and blood went out of the winepress to the bits of the horses, for 1,600 furlongs” (180 odd miles). How the heart turns instinctively to Him, the value of whose blood, and the extent of the reach of which, cannot be measured! Who can fathom what He endured, who, in His own sinless, spotless Person, endured the wrath of God alone and unaided? “The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,” would they but have come for cleansing; but here it is required. “His blood be on us, and on our children!”
It may be asked, What are the distinctions between the harvest and the vintage? First, let us note the similarities. Both are of the earth, both are reaped, in both the sharp sickle is used, in both the thing reaped is matured. Now note the distinctions. In the harvest the reaper is Son-of-Man-like; in the vintage he is an angel. In the harvest the bidding to reap is by an angel out of the temple; in the vintage it is by an angel out of the altar, having power over fire. In the harvest the bidding is in a loud voice; in the vintage with a loud cry. In the harvest we are not told what was done with the product; in the vintage it was cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God; and it was trodden outside the city, and blood in immense quantity was the result. The harvest represents discriminate, while the vintage indicates indiscriminate, judgment.
The Seven Angels.
In studying the Apocalypse, we are greatly helped by the grouping of certain features, which, although placed at distances from each other, and likely to be overlooked by the more superficial reader, are, nevertheless, exceeding great helps to the one who seeks the great Interpreter’s guidance into “the whole truth.” The three woes were of this nature; they have helped to connect the last trumpet with the last seven plagues. Here we meet with another of these guides. It will be remembered that the Blessed One, Jesus of Nazareth, was, as a Man, approved by God by means of three methods of manifestation outside the ordinary course of what men call the “natural laws of nature”: “Works of power,” “Wonderful things,” and “Signs” (Acts 2:2222Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: (Acts 2:22)). These latter always demand more than ordinary attention. If the first two denote the Performer to be a specially endowed Man, the third goes to the extent of saying what Jesus said on one occasion, “If I by the finger of God.” In the original, the word employed is never used except in respect of something done, or to be done, as God, by Jesus; or by the Holy Ghost, in the apostles, after Pentecost. It is a pity that the word was not always translated “sign” in the A.V., as has apparently been done in the Revised Version, because there are six other words used to express the supernatural works of the Lord, none of which come up to this one in importance, great as all are. Now, in the Apocalypse this word is used three times on the divine side. It will be remembered that, at the opening of the second great division, they were spoken of as “finger-posts.” One pointed out the Woman; the second pointed out the Dragon; this, the third, points out the doom of the latter for the persecution of the former. It is stated above that the word is used three times in the Apocalypse on the divine side. Awful to relate, it is given to the second beast to do signs (Rev. 13:13, 1413And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (Revelation 13:13‑14)), according to Paul’s prophecy of him (2 Thess. 2:99Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (2 Thessalonians 2:9)), where this same word is used. Then in Rev. 16, out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the first beast, and out of the mouth of the second beast (also called the false prophet), are seen frogs issuing. These frogs are spirits of devils, working these “signs.” Again, when the first and second beasts are cast alive into the lake of fire and brimstone, mention is made of the second, that he wrought the “signs” wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast (1St), and them that worshipped his image (Rev. 19:2020And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20)); so that these “signs” are no counterfeits. They are divinely permitted, just as the Crucifixion was permitted; although the use is in judgment, to deceive those who received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
This last great “sign,” then, bringing out the last woe, filling up the measure of the wrath of God, is now presented to us. God give us more than ever to love the truth, which He, at the cost of His Son, has in Him brought in grace to us.
The first great division of the Apocalypse ended thus: “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 to Thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, both small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” This we saw was the orderly summary of events about to occur in connection with the setting up of the reign of righteousness. And let it be remembered that this summary forms the subject of the worship of the twenty-four elders on their faces before the throne of God. And what is the first of these seven solemn utterances? Wrath. The wrath of the nations was met by the wrath of God. Under the fifth seal there had been an erroneous impression that the day of wrath was come. Under the seventh trumpet it had been announced as above, and now, placed between the revelation of the two beasts and the extinction of Babylon, comes these awful judgments, which fill up the measure of God’s outraged Majesty, except upon the instruments themselves of the earth’s corruption. God longs to reward His servants the prophets, and His saints, and those that fear His name.
Episode I. The Worshipping Victors.
“A sea of glass mingled with fire.” Let us get right thoughts of this. The main subject of our episode is Worship. Worship is the approach to God, not only with a suitable estimate of what He is, but with a suitableness at the time of approach. It is not how the worshipper got there, but his suitableness for the presence when there. Now, the first is by blood, the second by water. “This is He that came by water and blood”—Jesus the Christ “not by water only, but by water and blood.” Suitableness of approach being our theme, we can understand that Abram was called from beyond the river. Israel passed through the Red Sea, and afterward through Jordan. John baptized unto the kingdom. Christians are baptized unto Christ—are washed by the water of the Word, because they are already clean through the blood. Water is a symbol of death: no human being can live in it. Defilement in God’s presence would be death. Cleansing, therefore, is thus effected: (1) The worshipper is soiled and unfit; (2) The worshipper is cleansed, the soil is left in the water; (3) The worshipper is clean. Now, under the law, the priests, who alone came into the Presence, washed in the brazen sea, or laver. In this our episode, the same mode of approach is still recognized, only soil there is none. The glass figures the water; as fire represents the purifying judgment passed through. Before the throne (Rev. 4:66And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:6)) a sea of glass is seen; no fire, because judgment had not begun. The street of the heavenly city is of pure gold, like transparent glass. All these symbols convey the same truth, viz., that the Holy God cannot be approached by a creature without the recognition of purification, whether to be done, or done. The very heavens are not clean in His sight.
This truth once clearly and absolutely recognized, all the rest is plain and evident. Here are beloved Israelites that have been victorious over beast, image, mark, name; having divinely appointed music, which combines their position under Moses and under the Lamb, in a peculiar song. The song of Moses, is triumph over the power of evil by God’s judgments. The song of the Lamb, is the exaltation of the rejected Messiah. Well may they say, “Great and wonderful are Thy works, Jehovah Elohim Shaddai; righteous and true Thy ways, O King of nations. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy” (that is what the living creatures say day and night). “All nations shall come and worship” (oh, how different to the time when they could hear of God until the word “Gentiles” was uttered, and then go mad!), “for Thy righteousnesses are made manifest” (like saying All Thy judgments about things were right; all Thy doings justify Thee; everything Thou hast done has been right).
And so we have got the promise to Abraham fulfilled at last. Here are his seed, in the presence of God Himself, not only pure and clean themselves, but justifying God in His doings among the heathen, as to His word, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
Does it not make the heart leap for joy and delight to see these beloved ones above? To see them safely housed, and with right thoughts of God and the Lamb. They glorify His name, and declare Him only to be holy and worthy of worship. Through bitter judgments they have learned these things, while we have learned them through the grace, love, patience, long-suffering, and mercy of our God; but the difference has been in His ways, because of His Son, and certainly not because of our deserts. He is sovereign, and has disposed of His creatures as He pleased; but why Israel should be Israel, and the Church the Church, is as inscrutable as Himself, HE IS, and they are, because HE IS. To confound Israel with the Church, or the Church with Israel, or to say that all saints from Adam on are part of Christ’s body, is either to ignore God’s sovereign will and His immutable truth, or it is to dare to introduce the spirit of democracy into the things of God.
Episode II. The Equipment and Commission for Wrath on the Earth.
“And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of witness in the heaven was opened.” Let us now be clear about the word “Temple,” which we are considering in contrast to the “Throne.” In the first place, dismiss all thought of any temple erected at any time in Jerusalem. Go to that structure that Moses was commanded to raise, as detailed in Exodus. Forget, for the present, the curtains through which we enter, and behold that erection standing at the further end of the enclosure made by the curtains. That structure is called the Naos, meaning “the House,” or, as here, “the Temple.” It is, in its form, like three cubes placed one in front of the other. Let us enter at the front. Two of the cubes form one apartment; it is the tabernacle of testimony (or witness); the candlestick is there; the table with twelve loaves on it is there. They are the perpetual witness that God was the light and the food of His people. The remaining cube is curtained off. In it is found the ark of the covenant, the censer, and the altar of incense. It was the most holy place, where God dwelt, in contrast to the holy place where the light and the food were. The “holy” and the “most holy” are not now found on earth. They are in heaven, because Christ, the antitype, is there. In Rev. 12 we had the “most holy”; here we have “the holy” (see Heb. 9).
Up to this point, therefore, we have had portrayed to our souls, from Rev. 12 onward, that God abideth faithful. He has stood by His covenant. The ark is the witness of it. The altar of gold, where prayer ascended as sweet perfume to Him, tells it. But here we have this: that light and sustenance from God have been despised, and in the person of Christ, too; for all this golden furniture represents Him, as well as the light and the bread. Judgment, therefore—solemn, sweeping, unsparing judgment—must go forth on all that has despised Him. For all shall honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. So now we see not priests, but angels issuing forth from the holy place, clad in white linen, and girt about the breasts (like Him of Rev. 1.) with golden girdles. Human righteousness and divine righteousness characterize these ministers of His that do His pleasure. “And one of the four living creatures [perpetual witnesses of God’s holiness] delivered to them seven golden vessels, full of the fury of God—the ever-living. And the naos was filled with smoke,” as indicating God’s glory and power. While so, no one could go in (‘Who may stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry’? Ps. 76:7) till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. “And I heard a voice out of the naos, saying to the seven angels, Go, and pour out the seven vessels of the fury of God upon the earth.”
We see now what Peter means when he says that “Judgment begins from the House of God. And if the righteous are saved difficultly, where shall the impious and the sinner appear”? But, as we have seen in Rev. 12, God took up Israel in the most holy place; therefore, they are safe. But when the song went up in the heavenlies, it was also said “Woe to the earth.” It has come. During this present period of God’s grace, believers in Christ, indwelt by the Spirit, and coming together in the name of Jesus in the power of that Spirit, constitute the naos of God (1 Cor. 3:1616Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)). Our own individual bodies are called by the same name (1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)), because the Spirit of God dwells there. The Lord’s body here on earth was so spoken of by Him. In the Holy Jerusalem no structural naos will be found, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the naos of it (Rev. 21:2222And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22)). All this shows what extraordinary honor God puts on the body of Christ (which the Church is), and on the bodies of His saints composing it. But they are bought with a price—the precious blood of Christ.
The First Vial: Poured Upon the Earth.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “The Heaven, and the Heaven of heavens, are the Lord’s, the earth hath He given to the children of men;” but “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” “The heaven for height, and the earth for depth.” God hath set His glory above the heavens, but the earth is found in the depths of wickedness. All flesh has again corrupted His way upon the earth, so the first vessel of God’s fury falls upon the earth. And there is a divine principle in God’s government, which we shall discover at work here. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.” The men who have received the mark of the beast, or worshipped his image, are smitten with a painful and malignant ulcer. Noisome and grievous, no doubt but causing pain—a thing that the self-indulgent feel more than others We may be sure of its being painful and malignant; for when the Lord said to Satan once, “Hast thou considered My servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil: and he still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth Thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce Thee to Thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; only spare his life. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal.” So Satan gets thrust with his own lance! “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” Poor Job! Those who have sympathized with him in his afflictions, have often felt how much more they deserved it than he. But, indeed, he came out of it nobly. It was grievous, indeed, while it lasted, but it wrought the peaceable fruits of righteousness afterward, and God,—the loving, the faithful,—preached beforehand to him, that godliness hath the promise of this life, as well as that which is to come, by giving him twice as much as before. Oh, yes, we have heard of the patience of Job, and seen the end of the Lord, as well; that He is full of tender compassion, and very pitiful. It has not been thrown away upon us. Every groan of his has taught many an afflicted one to offer praise, and to suffer patiently. And Lazarus, too! full of sores, could not walk, ministered to by dogs! And now, the righteous fury of God falls upon Satan’s friends. “And there fell upon them a noisome and grievous sore.”
There are those worthy of our deepest respect, both for piety and learning, who would prefer the symbolical view of the vials, or, at least, the first four of them, as being more in accordance with the scope and intention of the Spirit of God. We believe there is room for both. The view taken of the first four vials would be this: “First, the ordered and settled parts of the world are smitten as with an ulcerous distemper, where men were branded with subjection to the apostate civil power and his idolatry. Next, there is a judgment on the sea, that is, on the outside regions, where profession of life quite died out. The third representing, by rivers, people formed into a separate condition of nationality, like waters flowing in a distinct channel, under special local influence; and by the fountains, rather the springs, of a nation’s prosperity. All the active principles assume the form of death. The third judgment comes down to smaller details than the former ones; the fourth is on the public supreme authority.”
At any rate, our wisdom is to get hold of moral principles throughout this Book; the physical details, which we also firmly believe, are for that day. There is, however, one point to warn the reader about, and that is the liability to confound metaphor with symbol, or symbol with supernatural fact. A sword going out of His mouth is a metaphor; vials of wrath are symbols. “There was no more sea” is a physical though supernatural fact.
The Second Vial: Poured Upon the Sea.
It will be remembered that the beast was seen rising from the sea, and it was there spoken of as rising from a state of unrest, a tumult of the people. “The wicked are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”
But the sea is not always upheaved, it is not always subject to the tempest; that is not its normal condition; it has other figures. The waters of the Red Sea were to the Israelite what baptism represents, viz., death. Death to Egypt; life to God in the Wilderness. But, by the word and power of God, death’s power is annulled while His people pass through. It cannot swallow them up. There is no such withholding power for others. Pharaoh and his host, making the attempt, are overwhelmed. They are found dead ; the Israelite is alive and singing on the other shore. Death thus becomes the place where God can work His greatest wonders. It is the sphere where His most signal victories over all the power of man’s great enemy has been accomplished. He is “God that raiseth the dead.” God takes His standpoint just where man cannot stand. Hence we see Jesus walking on the sea, and bidding faith do likewise. So also do we see Him ask Peter to push away a little from the land, while He teaches the people out of the ship. The net gathers out of the sphere of death (to man), and it becomes food to man. A risen Christ feeds His disciples on fish and bread (John 21.).
But to come to the application of this vial. Hear Ezek. 38:19: “In My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel ; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence.” The vial poured upon the sea, it became blood—itself the symbol of death. But it is added, “as of a dead man,” so that we get death of three-fold intensity. “So that every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.” We saw in the last vial a kind of retributive action. We may look for the same thing here; for it is righteousness, pure righteousness. Golden bowls by angels in golden girdles, in enfolding white robes. God has for six thousand years been bringing life out of death. “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” But God spake of life through the promised Seed, and Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. In the death and resurrection of Christ, life and incorruption have been brought to light through the Gospel. So of the saints; the dead in Christ shall rise first. Life out of death is God’s divine order. What has man, by Satan, done? Made death doubly death, by bringing in the second death. Everything that has life (naturally) dies. Man has befouled everything, polluted everything, ruined everything! No wonder, therefore, that God righteously brings it to an end in His wrath, and brings in the times of restitution, or restoration of all things which all the holy prophets have spoken of, notably Isaiah (Isa. 65:1717For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. (Isaiah 65:17)), who says, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” In that day death is the exception; not the rule, as new; should one die a hundred years old, he is but a child. The span of life will not only exceed that of Methuselah, but death does not come in at all necessarily. This period, in which righteousness reigns, will give place to a new heaven and new earth, in which righteousness dwells; and in which not only tears are wiped away, but death exists no more (Rev. 21:44And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4)). In the day of the Lord death exists, for He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet, and the last enemy is death. In the day of God, therefore, death is not; and those who complete their day under the Lord’s righteous sway, find the last enemy annulled, and “dwell with God’s Beloved, in God’s eternal day.”
The Third Vial: Poured Upon the Water Springs.
The earth and the sea having been visited, the rivers and water-springs are next dealt with under the third outpouring of wrath. They also become blood. They, sometimes in Scripture called living waters, always in motion, as the carriers of blessing, and preventing stagnation and death, now become blood. No more life, no more quenching of thirst, no more refreshment to the weary, no more the carriers of men or merchandise; they become blood. It was so in Egypt. “He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.” But it is in the article of food that water occupies the correlative place with bread. With bread and water life is sustained. But who could drink blood? Hence this most righteous judgment, of a most righteous and holy One, who has so judged. The angel of the waters deems it so, for he says, Thou art righteous, who art, and wast, the holy One [it sounds like “He that liveth, and was dead”— “the holy and the true”], that Thou hast judged so. Because they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets; and Thou hast given them blood to drink. They are worthy. Yes, indeed. He is worthy, whose saints they slew. They are worthy who receive at the hand of God that which they did to those for whom Christ shed His blood. Precious Savior! Thy blood was a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Thou hast given unto them according to their works. And I heard the Altar say, Yea, Lord God Almighty. True and righteous are Thy judgments! The angel of the waters below, and the golden altar, where the prayers of the dying martyrs were made fragrant ere they reached His holy ear, both give their testimony to the righteousness of these vials of final wrath, pent up so long by a long-suffering God, that men had begun to scoff at the delay. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. He had said by Ezekiel, “I will bring upon thee the fury of blood and jealousy.” By Isaiah He had said, “Your hands are defiled with blood; your feet are swift to shed innocent blood.” And the Lord Jesus had said, “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation” (Matt. 23:35, 3635That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:35‑36)).
“And I heard the Altar say.” It will be observed that this differs from the common text. There can, however, be no doubt whatever as to its correctness. In prophetic language an altar has a voice as well as an angel, or the ground from which the blood of Abel spake (Gen. 4:1010And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. (Genesis 4:10)). In the earlier part of the book the souls of those that were “slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held,” were seen under the altar. Now here that altar which had witnessed their blood is said to cry out to God, and to own that His judgments are true and righteous, and really there is more force given to the utterance than if an angel had spoken. An angel, though a divinely appointed minister, cannot enter into the sufferings of saints so as to have sympathy with them. God can and does. “Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth.” God has seen and noted it all. He regards His saints as so many burnt-offerings rising up before Him whose blood, or rather the witnessing altar, calls for wrath and indignation. The Lord may seem to slumber for a season, but when He awakes, as one out of sleep, He will surely avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth. And now it is at hand. Great Babylon had not yet come into remembrance, though from the beginning the special corruptress of the truth, and drunken with the blood of the saints. But meanwhile the altar could not hold its peace, and the Lord listens and hears. For the God who heeds the groans of the creature, will surely answer the altar’s cry about His slain ones.
“Thou art righteous, O Lord, who art and wast, the holy One.” Not, “and shall be,” as in the ordinary version—a precious exchange, for the word signifies “the mercy” of the holy One.
The Fourth Vial: Poured Upon the Sun.
The source of light and heat is now touched in respect to heat, which is increased enormously, so that men are scorched with a great scorching. This is the burning heat of James, that withers up and consumes all the pride and the glory of man. All the proud boast and arrogancy of the days of his vanity are now forgotten in one excruciating, agonizing woe, which gives him, beforehand, a foretaste of those everlasting burnings that await him in the lake of fire. Such are recalled to our minds by the Lord’s words in Matt. 13. Those who had heard the word, and indeed received it with joy; but had no root in themselves, nothing to lay hold, nothing to take root downward and bear fruit upward. And so, when tribulation or persecution arose, they were stumbled—succumbed, and laid hold of what came first, as long as it took the burden of it off themselves. Having no root in themselves, they were glad to cast themselves on a priest, who undertook (for a consideration) to settle matters for them. And so they could profess a religion that had no root. No wonder that, when the sun arose, they were scorched, and, having no root, were dried up. Now that God’s wrath burns hot against them, their religion is shown at its real value. They blaspheme the name of God, who exercises His authority over these plagues, and are far from repenting, that they might give Him glory.
And in the matter of retribution; it is as evident here, as elsewhere. Men worshipped the sun everywhere in place of God, who trieth the heart and conscience, to unite man with Himself. It was less demand, they deemed, on the conscience, to serve the inanimate than the living God, who trieth the heart. So, as long as they were satisfied with their worship, what mattered aught else? Something to bless or curse themselves or others by, something for self-interest or personal advancement; and a sun-god would do as well as, or better than, any other. But now, their god becomes their tormentor. They made their children pass through the fire to the sun-god; now, their descendants have the furnace heated for themselves, seven times hotter than it is wont to be heated! It was easy to roast God’s children at slow fires, to support the votaries of a harlot, drunken with blood of saints. Now the fire tries every man’s work, and we see of what sort theirs is. They blaspheme the name of God, and repent not to give Him glory.
These things are painful to think about and to write about, but they are written down in the Word to make us think, and the reality of what is written there, is far more evident in the Word itself, than in the littleness of our little thoughts about it. It has been remarked before in these pages that these judgments are intended to reach the heart, or the conscience. It touches the heart of the believer now, for it causes him to praise and worship Him who endured these things, when He endured the wrath of God for our sins, that we might never come under them. It touches the conscience of the one who trembles, but has not yet laid hold of the hope set before him in the gospel. But why not? Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. The glory of the gospel is its immediateness. It is the enemy who has made a prolonged business of it. There is no reason why your conversion should not be as instantaneous as Paul’s. He was converted to furnish a model example: “For this reason mercy was shown me, that in me [the first], Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on Him to life eternal” (1 Tim. 1:1616Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (1 Timothy 1:16)). Words cannot be more explicit than this!
But when once judgment has begun, the conscience is hardened (witness Pharaoh), and these before us who blaspheme, and repent not, testify to it. It is remarkable, too, to notice after the terrible catastrophe of the nations before Jerusalem, and when the millennium has begun, and Israel is dwelling safely in unwalled towns and villages, that Gog—the head of the vast north-eastern powers comes up as a cloud to cover the land, to rob, and, if possible, destroy Israel. Man discredits God, whether in grace or judgment.
The Fifth Vial: Poured Upon the Throne of the Beast.
In the divine arrangement of a God of order, we find that the number seven indicates a full complement of that which has various parts. Except for these various parts, it would be indicated by the number one. It is, therefore, what we may express as unity in diversity. Of this diversity it is helpful to see that it is divided into two unequal parts if it is to represent that which cannot by its nature be broken. We can illustrate both statements in this Book. It will be observed in the Churches, that the first three have “He that hath an ear” before “He that overcometh.” In the last four this is reversed, and we see the reason; in the first three, repentance is possible; in the last four, the Lord’s coming is the only resource. In the seals we saw the first four, grouped by providential judgments. So in the trumpets, the first four are grouped, and in the same order as here under the vials; i.e., earth, sea, rivers, heavenly bodies. Only there it was partial; here, it is totality expressed. We may therefore expect to see the remaining three grouped together with an identity of purpose similar to the three woes, to wind up matters (by judgment), so as to clear the way (the object of all the Book) for the REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST in Revelation 19. In that chapter we shall enter upon a new series of events, in which Christ Himself, personally, will intervene. We shall then see that the first great division of our prophecy was an estimate of the world at large in judgment; the second great division, at Revelation 12, an estimate of the world at large, but specially as relating to Israel. The entry of Christ in person will bring in the King of kings as the answer to the last, and the Lord of lords as the answer to the first. Read prophecy as you will, it never alters God’s intention, which is to exalt His Son in a three-fold way. The second psalm is the official decree concerning three things: Christ and His Church in purpose, as revealed subsequently, v.7; God and His King, v. 6; Christ and His inheritance, v. 8. All prophecy has but one object, to testify of these things; and, in detail, to gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and cast them into a furnace of fire. Under this vial the throne of the usurper is darkened, and his subjects are found blaspheming God, and gnawing their tongues in anguish. Under the next, we shall see preparations for the biggest battle the world has ever known; when both beasts, their followers, all the kings and their armies, are finally overthrown. Then the last, in which everything Babylonian is finished; there is nothing more left to judge; Satan is shut up, and the earth keeps her Sabbath of 1,000 years under God’s King.
It has been remarked above that we might expect to see the last three vials grouped together. They are so; and in this way, namely, that each one is directed at that which, during the mystery of God, has been the vehicle of Satan’s power over men. The first is that under review, the throne of the beast and his kingdom, to which Satan has given his authority. The second is the Euphrates, the river of Babylon, the vicinity from whence all the soul-corrupting doctrines of Satan have emanated. The third is the air, of the power of which Satan has been, and still is, the prince. First, western; second, eastern; third, universal. First, Satan’s king and kingdom; second, Satan’s priest, prophet, and king (for they all act together); and third, the whole civil and ecclesiastical structure set up by Satan in daring rebellion to God’s authority, and in contravention of all His plans of blessing to man during 6,000 years. We can see, then, how thoroughly and exhaustively the seven plagues fill up the wrath of God against all the sources of evil, so that their evil influences shall not even exist during the rule of God’s King. Not that evil ceases to be, for the loosing of Satan after the Millennium shows what is possible; but man’s heart, susceptible to evil, will not be acted upon by one who desires his ruin, but by One who desires his blessing. Though inferior to what God is doing now by His spirit’s testimony to Christ, its blessing to the earth will be beyond parallel.
The Sixth Vial: Poured Upon the Euphrates.
In the divisions of sevens into four and three, spoken of in the last page, it might be asked why, in the churches, it should be three followed by four; while in seals, trumpets, and vials, it is reversed, viz., four followed by three. This is interesting, because it is in these peculiarities that the characteristics of the divine teaching are shown; and when once they are known—as was remarked at an earlier stage—they become the key to the interpretation of a larger and wider range of truth. Now, in the divisions before us, subjects are looked at from two points of view, the divine and the human. The divine is met by three, the human by four. As illustration of the divine: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Spirit, water, blood. As illustrating the human side: four evangelists to represent adequately the Christ; four living creatures on the throne, heads of creation in symbol as to that which has to do with man. As to that which has to do with God, they cry day and night, Holy, holy, holy. Now, in the churches, the heavenly being the prominent thought, the divine side comes first, but in all the rest—seals, trumpets, vials—the earthly is the prominent thought; hence the human side comes first; man is dealt with as man; then God acts in the last three, on behalf of Christ. If this seems mystical, it must be remembered that all prophetic truth is mystical, i.e., understood by the instructed, but dark to all else.
And now as to the sixth vial. We saw, in remarking upon the fifth, that the throne of the beast was smitten. This was a preliminary action towards the true King’s return. The false king, the usurper, is smitten, and all his boasted glory turned into howlings of blasphemy, and gnawing misery of pain. This was step one; here we have step two. The water of the Euphrates is dried up, that the way of the kings from the sun-rising may be rendered easy of approach. There is to be a battle, in which all the forces of the enemy are to be concentrated. It will be the whole world concentrated to do battle against Jerusalem, to annihilate it once and forever from the face of the earth. Kings from the east, i.e., of all countries beyond the Euphrates, who, the river being dried up, will enter Palestine from the north; kings from the west, summoned by miraculous agency by spirits of demons, sent forth by dragon, beast, and false prophet to the powers of the Roman Empire. These join the army from the east at Megiddo, on the shores of the Mediterranean. Their forces united, they will march against the city, certain of victory. But the action of Revelation 19 must tell its own story of the result, in its own place. One very solemn and almost startling announcement is heard—we know His voice. Sardis heard Him say, “I will come as a thief.” Laodicea heard His caution about nakedness. Can any belated traveler, once a professor in those churches, have struggled through to this bitter end? Better see to it now, if such be a possibility.
Armageddon, which means the mountain of Megiddo, is a reference of considerable interest to the prophetic student, because it represents the locality of the last decisive battle between the hosts of heaven and hell. We had in Revelation 12 The decisive battle in heaven, which rid the heavenly places of Satan and his hosts, who were cast down to the earth. But now, the earthly places have to be delivered from the hosts of Satan, represented by the men of the earth, who have been deceived by his influence. As usual, the Spirit of God instructs us upon the principle of truth already enunciated. Judges 5:1919The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. (Judges 5:19) tells us that “the kings came and fought. Then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo [place of troops]; they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven.” Here we find the true import. God is fighting from heaven for the deliverance of His people.
The Seventh Vial: Poured Into the Air.
The closing scene hastens on apace. The throne of the beast has been touched; the devil, beast, and false prophet have sent out their summons in hot haste; and, now, the last vial comes upon the air, lately the sphere whence all the malice and deceit of Satan proceeded. Temple and throne now join. The voice of their Sovereign has finished in principle: all that follows is but detail. Immense indeed, but detail. The announcement has been made, the King is at hand. The demonstration of divine majesty that took place when the seven angels received their commission, is again heard at its close. But the closing earthquake surpasses everything that has ever been experienced since man has been upon this earth. The great organization is divided into three parts. The cities of the nations that have participated with her in her last crowning act of guilt fall, and she herself comes into remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. Let it be remembered that Babylon has been the author of every species of spiritual wickedness upon the earth since the Flood; that she had been on earth for Satan, what the Church should have been for Christ. Popery is only that phase of Babylon which ran its course coincidently with the Church. The power of Babylon was bequeathed to Rome, and Julius Caesar was the first Emperor Pontifex that could take up the legacy of Attains III.; but before that time all spiritual wickedness done on earth was done by Babylon. All the various forms of idolatry. The oldest Babylonian Semitic inscription, allowed by God to be dug up at this the time of the end, is that of Sargon I., B. C. 3800, in which the sun-god Sippara is mentioned. Bel, the third in their trinity of Anu, Ea, and Bel, is stamped upon their early bricks. He was the Zeus of the Greeks, the Jupiter of the Romans. Instar (Venus), under the names of Ashtoreth, Astarte, queen of heaven, queen of Babylon, queen of the gods, and to whom cakes were offered, is identical with the female and child worshipped in the mystic Babylon. The sun-god was called “judge of heaven and earth, king of judgment.” Rimmon, governor of heaven and earth, was the god of the air. But enough has been said to show us why the last vial is poured upon the air, and why such dire judgments fall on Babylon as the corrupting power of the whole earth during the whole of its history. A righteous and holy God pours out His pent-up indignation upon that which has usurped His divine prerogatives, and poisoned and perverted every stream of blessing that God intended for the happy well-being of the sons of men.
“And every island fled away.” Solemn thought for a united kingdom. Mountains—not found; they disappear. And thus every spot upon the earth, together with its envelope, the air, have felt the effect of the fury of God’s wrath.
A great hail, stones of a talent weight (125 lbs.), falls from heaven. Men are still hardened; they blaspheme God. Thus grace and judgment make no impression on man. Under each, God is blasphemed.
Solemn reflections press themselves upon us as we think that God’s long-suffering and God’s judgments are both to end with similar result in man, unregenerate man, man apart from the knowledge of God in Christ. It is to be remarked that both Peter and Jude speak of such men as “brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed.” Not that God made them so. “God made man upright” (Eccles. 7:2929Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. (Ecclesiastes 7:29)). Two things conduce to their ruin. Jude tells us one: “What things they know naturally [that is, by the light of nature, as men speak], in these things they corrupt themselves.” Paul tells us the other: “They received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” And to writer and reader comes this question, “Who maketh thee to differ from another?” (1 Cor. 4:77For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)). Only God.
Mystery: Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.
Very few words are needed here. The first portion gives us a description of the great whore, and the people, multitudes, nations, and tongues over which her influence has extended. Kings of earth have trafficked with her; earth-dwellers have been intoxicated by her, deprived of a right judgment by means of her idolatries. The angel then carries the seer into a solitary place, and in the power of the Spirit shows a picture of what is passing, and afterward explains it. A woman, clad in purple and scarlet, decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls, with a golden cup in her hand, filled with the foul filthiness of her influence, her name plainly written on her forehead, is seen seated upon an imperial power, which has been before described to us—the beast from the sea. Supported by this diabolical earthly power, and drunk with blood of martyrs of Jesus, sits this thing that called herself The Church. Amazed by the sight, the beholder can scarce contain himself with wonder. Was this thing, then—presided over by a being, allowing himself to be called “our Lord God the Pope,” —a mechanism of religion devised by the Devil? and had it been a vile sham all through—personating the real thing for hire?
Let us now gather up the explanation of this vision, remembering that the beast (first beast) is spoken of in two ways; first, personally; second, as a power (“The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and great authority”). The beast (person) lived once, died (Rev. 13:22And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:2)), will come up into existence again, will be cast into the lake of fire. Four phases. Earth-dwellers will be astounded, i.e., those whose names are not in the Book of Life. One, who came in His Father’s name, was discredited. One coming in his own name will be received. Strong delusion is judicially appointed to that end. The seven heads represent Rome, where the woman is located. They also represent seven kings—five had passed away, one was present, one should come and pass away. The beast (person) would, by the circumstances before explained, be an eighth, and yet one of the seven. His end, as before shown, would be the lake of fire. The ten horns are ten kings, not coming into existence till the hour of the beast, when they will receive each a kingdom, and reign as kings.
Babylon the Great Is Fallen, Is Fallen
In the former page it is the woman, mother of harlots. The ecclesiastical side of her character, depicted in Thyatira under the figure of Jezebel, a persecuting worshipper of Baal. We have seen what her doom was, to be hated and utterly destroyed by the ten kings confederate with the beast. But, as it has been shown, there is a larger and wider aspect of Babylon,—not merely as a religious power, and ruling the religions of the world, and killing or corrupting God’s people. It has been shown that her baneful influence has infected governments, and all commerce. She has caused men to forget that all power belongs to God; and that the powers that be are ordained of God; that, instead of looking up to Him who has appointed them, nations have looked for support to those whom they govern. No doubt it was by means of the harlot, governments and the dealings of the world were corrupted. No doubt in her was found the blood of all God’s prophets and saints. But she is looked at here more as a great city, influenced by the power that was at work in the harlot—Satan’s power, perverting and rendering negative all those things which should have given glory to God. Here, then, we find it in its true character. Its falseness made it the power it had become. Luxury and wealth, and all the things men go after, are not what they seem to be. In her judgment all this enchantment is dissolved. It is seen in its real character. Demons live in it; every foul spirit dwells in it, and everything hateful and unclean. But at one fell stroke men are disillusioned. That which had such a place, such a hold, gave such an interest to everybody in respect to ease, wealth, luxury, refinement—is gone! When the ten kings had done their work of destruction she might yet have said, “I sit a queen,” but in one hour judgment is come.
Final Praise and Worship in Heaven. Announcement of the Marriage of the Lamb.
The glad and joyous paean of praise is heard in heaven from a great multitude of people. Crowds are saying, “Hallelujah! The salvation, the glory, the power of our God! True and righteous are His judgments! For He hath judged the great harlot, which corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.” A second time they shout, Hallelujah! And her smoke goeth up forever and ever. Then the twenty-four elders, and the four living creatures, fall down and do homage to God who sits upon the throne, saying, Amen! Hallelujah! A voice then comes out of the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all ye His bondsmen, and ye that fear Him, small and great.” Thus all heaven, from end to end, resounds with Hallelujahs! No event, but the death of the Lord Jesus, has been made so much of in the Word of God as giving such intense satisfaction; and, indeed, there is none, for it represents the abuse and perversion of all the grace, patience, forbearance, and long-suffering. The watchword of the blessed One: “I say unto you that ye resist not evil,” has been taken advantage of during nearly nineteen centuries; and now this is the righteous requital by God in vindication of His Son. For this is the point here. God had His own reckoning with her. This records the reckoning on behalf of the suffering Son. Hence, the marriage of the Lamb is the correlative subject. It may be that the voice that comes from the throne on more than one occasion is that of Jesus. It will, however, be observed, how He seems purposely not named all through. This is for several weighty reasons. First, it is God’s vindication of His Son. Second, it is the unfolding of God’s estimate of iniquity, unchecked, while that Son has been set forth as a Savior. Third, it is that greater éclat might be given at His revelation proper. His personal manifestation to the world—the second coming, the second advent, the coming in glory—all the many aspects in which that return has been spoken of, except one; and that was the snatching up of His waiting ones from the earth, before judgment began. This was His promise all along to any who waited for Him; and He carried it out to the letter. Now, His marriage to such (His church, His body) is to take place; she is absolutely fit for Him in every way—no spot, no stain, no fault—absolutely perfect. And she is seen clad in white linen, the symbol of her purity even as He is pure. He made her what He would like her to be. This is the result of the Cross; and now comes the public display: “For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.”