@Re 11:1-19. MEASUREMENT OF THE TEMPLE. THE TWO WITNESSES' TESTIMONY: THEIR DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION: THE EARTHQUAKE: THE THIRD WOE: THE SEVENTH TRUMPET USHERS IN CHRIST'S KINGDOM. THANKSGIVING OF THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS.
This eleventh chapter is a compendious summary of, and introduction to, the more detailed prophecies of the same events to come in the twelfth through twentieth chapters. Hence we find anticipatory allusions to the subsequent prophecies; compare @Re 11:7, "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit" (not mentioned before), with the detailed accounts, @Re 13:1,11 17:8; also @Re 11:8, "the great city," with @Re 14:8 17:1,5 18:10.
1. and the angel stood--omitted in A, Vulgate, and Coptic.
Supported by B and Syriac. If it be omitted, the "reed" will, in
construction, agree with "saying." So
WORDSWORTH takes it. The reed,
the canon of Scripture, the measuring reed of the Church, our rule of
faith, speaks. So in @Re 16:7 the altar is personified as
speaking (compare Note,
see on Re 16:7). The Spirit
speaks in the canon of Scripture (the word canon is derived from
Hebrew, "kaneh," "a reed," the word here used; and John it was
who completed the canon). So VICTORINUS,
AQUINAS, and
VITRINGA. "Like a
rod," namely, straight: like a rod of iron (@Re 2:27), unbending,
destroying all error, and that "cannot be broken." @Re 2:27 Heb 1:8,
Greek, "a rod of straightness," English Version, "a scepter of
righteousness"; this is added to guard against it being thought that
the reed was one "shaken by the wind" In the abrupt style of the
Apocalypse, "saying" is possibly indefinite, put for "one said."
Still WORDSWORTH'S view agrees best with Greek. So the ancient
commentator, ANDREAS OF
CÆSAREA, in the end of the fifth century
(compare Notes,
see on Re 11:3,4).
the temple--Greek, "naon" (as distinguished from the Greek, "hieron," or temple in general),
the Holy Place, "the sanctuary."
the altar--of incense; for it alone was in "the sanctuary."
(Greek, "naos"). The measurement of the Holy place
seems to me to stand
parallel to the sealing of the elect of Israel under the sixth seal.
God's elect are symbolized by the sanctuary at Jerusalem (@1Co 3:16,17,
where the same Greek word, "naos," occurs for "temple," as
here). Literal Israel in Jerusalem, and with the temple restored
(@Eze 40:3,5, where also the temple is measured with the measuring
reed, the forty-first, forty-second, forty-third, and forty-fourth
chapters), shall stand at the head of the elect Church. The measuring
implies at once the exactness of the proportions of the temple to be
restored, and the definite completeness (not one being wanting) of the
numbers of the Israelite and of the Gentile elections. The literal
temple at Jerusalem shall be the typical forerunner of the heavenly
Jerusalem, in which there shall be all temple, and no portion
exclusively set apart as temple. John's accurately drawing the
distinction in subsequent chapters between God's servants and those who
bear the mark of the beast, is the way whereby he fulfils the direction
here given him to measure the temple. The fact that the temple
is distinguished from them that worship therein, favors the view
that the spiritual temple, the Jewish and Christian Church, is not
exclusively meant, but that the literal temple must also be meant. It
shall be rebuilt on the return of the Jews to their land. Antichrist
shall there put forward his blasphemous claims. The sealed elect of
Israel, the head of the elect Church, alone shall refuse his claims.
These shall constitute the true sanctuary which is here measured, that
is, accurately marked and kept by God, whereas the rest shall yield to
his pretensions. WORDSWORTH objects that, in the twenty-five passages
of the Acts, wherein the Jewish temple is mentioned, it is called
hieron, not naos, and so in the apostolic Epistles; but this is
simply because no occasion for mentioning the literal Holy Place
(Greek, "naos") occurs in Acts and the Epistles; indeed, in
@Ac 7:48, though not directly, there does occur the term,
naos, indirectly referring to the Jerusalem temple
Holy Place. In
addressing Gentile Christians, to whom the literal Jerusalem temple
was not familiar, it was to be expected the term, naos, should not
be found in the literal, but in the spiritual sense. In @Re 11:19
naos is used in a local sense; compare also
@Re 14:15,17 15:5,8.
2. But--Greek, "And."
the court . . . without--all outside the Holy Place (@Re 11:1).
leave out--of thy measurement, literally, "cast out"; reckon as
unhallowed.
it--emphatic. It is not to be measured; whereas the Holy Place is.
given--by God's appointment.
unto the Gentiles--In the wider sense, there are meant here "the times
of the Gentiles," wherein Jerusalem is "trodden down of the Gentiles,"
as the parallel, @Lu 21:24, proves; for the same word is used here
[Greek, "patein"], "tread under foot." Compare also
@Ps 79:1 Isa 63:18.
forty . . . two months--(@Re 13:5). The same period as Daniel's
"time, times, and half" (@Re 12:14); and @Re 11:3, and
@Re 12:6, the woman a fugitive in the wilderness "a thousand two
hundred and threescore days." In the wider sense, we may either adopt
the year-day theory of 1260 years (on which, and the papal rule of 1260 years,
see on Da 7:25;
Da 8:14;
Da 12:11),
or rather, regard the 2300 days
(@Da 8:14), 1335 days (@Da 12:11,12). 1290 days, and 1260 days, as
symbolical of the long period of the Gentile times, whether dating from
the subversion of the Jewish theocracy at the Babylonian captivity (the
kingdom having been never since restored to Israel), or from the
last destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, and extending to the
restoration of the theocracy at the coming of Him "whose right it is";
the different epochs marked by the 2300, 1335, 1290, and 1260 days, will
not be fully cleared up till the grand consummation; but, meanwhile, our
duty and privilege urge us to investigate them. Some one of the epochs
assigned by many may be right but as yet it is uncertain. The times of
the Gentile monarchies during Israel's seven times punishment, will
probably, in the narrower sense (@Re 11:2), be succeeded by the much
more restricted times of the personal Antichrist's tyranny in the Holy
Land. The long years of papal misrule may be followed by the short time
of the man of sin who shall concentrate in himself all the apostasy,
persecution, and evil of the various forerunning Antichrists, Antiochus,
Mohammed, Popery, just before Christ's advent. His time shall be
THE RECAPITULATION
and open consummation of the "mystery of iniquity" so
long leavening the world. Witnessing churches may be followed by
witnessing individuals, the former occupying the longer, the latter, the
shorter period. The three and a half (1260 days being three and a
half years of three hundred sixty days each, during which the two
witnesses prophesy in sackcloth) is the sacred number seven halved,
implying the Antichristian world-power's time is broken at best; it
answers to the three and a half years' period in which Christ
witnessed for the truth, and the Jews, His own people, disowned Him, and
the God-opposed world power crucified Him (compare Note,
see on Da 9:27). The
three and a half, in a word, marks the
time in which the earthly rules over the heavenly kingdom. It was the
duration of Antiochus' treading down of the temple and persecution of
faithful Israelites. The resurrection of the witnesses after three and a
half days, answers to Christ's resurrection after three days. The world
power's times never reach the sacred fulness of seven times three
hundred sixty, that is, 2520, though they approach to it in 2300
(@Da 8:14). The forty-two months answer to Israel's forty-two
sojournings (@Nu 33:1-50) in the wilderness, as contrasted with the
sabbatic rest in Canaan: reminding the Church that here, in the world
wilderness, she cannot look for her sabbatic rest. Also, three and a
half years was the period of the heaven being shut up, and of consequent
famine, in Elias' time. Thus, three and a half represented to the Church
the idea of toil, pilgrimage, and persecution.
3. I will give power--There is no "power" in the Greek, so
that "give" must mean "give commission," or some such word.
my two witnesses--Greek, "the two witnesses of me." The
article implies that the two were well known at least to John.
prophesy--preach under the inspiration of the Spirit, denouncing
judgments against the apostate. They are described by symbol as "the two
olive trees" and "the two candlesticks," or lamp-stands, "standing
before the God of the earth." The reference is to @Zec 4:3,12, where
two individuals are meant, Joshua and Zerubbabel, who ministered to
the Jewish Church, just as the two olive trees emptied the oil out of
themselves into the bowl of the candlestick. So in the final apostasy
God will raise up two inspired witnesses to minister encouragement to
the afflicted, though sealed, remnant. As two candlesticks are
mentioned in @Re 11:4, but only one in @Zec 4:2, I think the
twofold Church, Jewish and Gentile, may be meant by the two candlesticks
represented by the two witnesses: just as in @Re 7:1-8 there are
described first the sealed of Israel, then those of all nations. But
see on Re 11:4. The actions of the two witnesses are just
those of Moses when witnessing for God against Pharaoh (the type of
Antichrist, the last and greatest foe of Israel),
turning the waters into blood, and smiting with plagues;
and of Elijah (the witness for God in an almost universal apostasy of
Israel, a remnant of seven thousand, however, being left, as
the 144,000 sealed, @Re 7:1-8) causing fire by his word to
devour the enemy, and
shutting heaven, so that it rained not for three years and six months,
the very time (1260 days) during which the two witnesses prophesy.
Moreover, the words "witness" and "prophesy" are usually applied to
individuals, not to abstractions (compare @Ps 52:8).
DE
BURGH
thinks Elijah and Moses will again appear, as @Mal 4:5,6 seems to
imply (compare @Mt 17:11 Ac 3:21). Moses and Elijah appeared with
Christ at the Transfiguration, which foreshadowed His coming millennial
kingdom. As to Moses, compare @De 34:5,6 Jude 1:9. Elias' genius
and mode of procedure bears the same relation to the "second" coming of
Christ, that John the Baptist's did to the first coming
[BENGEL]. Many
of the early Church thought the two witnesses to be Enoch and Elijah.
This would avoid the difficulty of the dying a second time, for these
have never yet died; but, perhaps, shall be the witnesses slain. Still,
the turning the water to blood, and the plagues (@Re 11:6),
apply best to "Moses (compare @Re 15:3, the song of
Moses"). The transfiguration glory of Moses and Elias was not their
permanent resurrection-state, which shall not be till Christ shall come
to glorify His saints, for He has precedence before all in rising. An
objection to this interpretation is that those blessed departed
servants of God would have to submit to death (@Re 11:7,8), and
this in Moses' case a second time, which @Heb 9:27 denies.
See on Zec 4:11,12, on the two
witnesses as answering to "the two olive trees." The two olive trees
are channels of the oil feeding the Church, and symbols of peace. The
Holy Spirit is the oil in them. Christ's witnesses, in remarkable
times of the Church's history, have generally appeared in pairs: as
Moses and Aaron, the inspired civil and religious authorities; Caleb
and Joshua; Ezekiel the priest and Daniel the prophet; Zerubbabel and
Joshua.
in sackcloth--the garment of prophets, especially when calling
people to mortification of their sins, and to repentance. Their very
exterior aspect accorded with their teachings: so Elijah, and John who
came in His spirit and power. The sackcloth of the witnesses is a
catch word linking this episode under the sixth trumpet, with the
sun black as sackcloth (in righteous retribution on the apostates
who rejected God's witnesses)
under the sixth seal (@Re 6:12).
4. standing before the God of the earth--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read "Lord" for "God": so @Zec 4:14. Ministering to (@Lu 1:19), and as in the sight of Him, who, though now so widely disowned on "earth," is its rightful King, and shall at last be openly recognized as such (@Re 11:15). The phrase alludes to @Zec 4:10,14, "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." The article "the" marks this allusion. They are "the two candlesticks," not that they are the Church, the one candlestick, but as its representative light-bearers (Greek, "phosteres," @Php 2:15), and ministering for its encouragement in a time of apostasy. WORDSWORTH'S view is worth consideration, whether it may not constitute a secondary sense: the two witnesses, the olive trees, are THE TWO TESTAMENTS ministering their testimony to the Church of the old dispensation, as well as to that of the new, which explains the two witnesses being called also the two candlesticks (the Old and New Testament churches; the candlestick in @Zec 4:2 is but one as there was then but one Testament, and one Church, the Jewish). The Church in both dispensations has no light in herself, but derives it from the Spirit through the witness of the twofold word, the two olive trees: compare Note, see on Re 11:1, which is connected with this, the reed, the Scripture canon, being the measure of the Church: so PRIMASIUS [X, p. 314]: the two witnesses preach in sackcloth, marking the ignominious treatment which the word, like Christ Himself, receives from the world. So the twenty-four elders represent the ministers of the two dispensations by the double twelve. But @Re 11:7 proves that primarily the two Testaments cannot be meant; for these shall never be "killed," and never "shall have finished their testimony" till the world is finished.
5. will hurt--Greek, "wishes," or "desires to hurt them."
fire . . . devoureth--(Compare @Jer 5:14 23:29).
out of their mouth--not literally, but God makes their inspired
denunciations of judgment to come to pass and devour their enemies.
if any man will hurt them--twice repeated, to mark the
immediate certainty of the accomplishment.
in this manner--so in like manner as he tries to hurt them (compare
@Re 13:10). Retribution in kind.
6. These . . . power--Greek, "authorized power."
it rain not--Greek, "huetos brechee," "rain shower not,"
literally, "moisten" not (the earth).
smite . . . with all plagues--Greek, "with (literally, 'in')
every plague."
7. finished their testimony--The same verb is used of Paul's ending
his ministry by a violent death.
the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit--Greek, "the
wild beast . . . the abyss." This beast was not mentioned before, yet he
is introduced as "the beast," because he had already been described
by Daniel (@Da 7:3,11), and he is fully so in the subsequent part of
the Apocalypse, namely, @Re 13:1 17:8. Thus, John at once
appropriates the Old Testament prophecies; and also, viewing his whole
subject at a glance, mentions as familiar things (though not yet so to
the reader) objects to be described hereafter by himself. It is a proof
of the unity that pervades all Scripture.
make war against them--alluding to @Da 7:21, where the same is
said of the little horn that sprang up among the ten horns on the
fourth beast.
8. dead bodies--So Vulgate, Syriac, and
ANDREAS. But A, B, C,
the oldest manuscripts, and Coptic read the singular, "dead body."
The two fallen in one cause are considered as one.
the great city--eight times in the Revelation elsewhere used of
BABYLON
(@Re 14:8 16:19 17:18 18:10,16,18,19,21). In @Re 21:10
(English Version as to the new Jerusalem), the oldest
manuscripts omit "the great" before city, so that it forms no
exception. It must, therefore, have an anticipatory reference to the
mystical Babylon.
which--Greek, "the which," namely, "the city which."
spiritually--in a spiritual sense.
Sodom--The very term applied by @Isa 1:10 to apostate Jerusalem
(compare @Eze 16:48).
Egypt--the nation which the Jews' besetting sin was to lean upon.
where . . . Lord was crucified--This identifies the city as Jerusalem,
though the Lord was crucified outside of the city.
EUSEBIUS mentions
that the scene of Christ's crucifixion was enclosed within the city by
Constantine; so it will be probably at the time of the slaying of the
witnesses. "The beast [for example, Napoleon and France's efforts] has
been long struggling for a footing in Palestine; after his ascent from
the bottomless pit he struggles much more"
[BENGEL]. Some one of the
Napoleonic dynasty may obtain that footing, and even be regarded as
Messiah by the Jews, in virtue of his restoring them to their own land;
and so may prove to be the last Antichrist. The difficulty is, how can
Jerusalem be called "the great city," that is, Babylon? By her becoming
the world's capital of idolatrous apostasy, such as Babylon originally
was, and then Rome has been; just as she is here called also "Sodom and
Egypt."
also our--A, B, C, ORIGEN,
ANDREAS, and others read, "also their."
Where their Lord, also, as well as they, was slain. Compare
@Re 18:24, where the blood of ALL
slain on earth is said to
be found IN
BABYLON, just as in @Mt 23:35, Jesus saith that, "upon
the Jews and
JERUSALEM" (Compare @Mt 23:37,38) shall "come
ALL the
righteous blood shed upon earth"; whence it follows Jerusalem shall be
the last capital of the world apostasy, and so receive the last and
worst visitation of all the judgments ever inflicted on the apostate
world, the earnest of which was given in the Roman destruction of
Jerusalem. In the wider sense, in the Church-historical period, the
Church being the sanctuary, all outside of it is the world, the great
city, wherein all the martyrdoms of saints have taken place. Babylon
marks its idolatry, Egypt its tyranny, Sodom its desperate
corruption, Jerusalem its pretensions to sanctity on the ground of
spiritual privileges, while all the while it is the murderer of Christ
in the person of His members. All which is true of Rome. So
VITRINGA.
But in the more definite sense, Jerusalem is regarded, even in
Hebrews (@Heb 13:12-14), as the world city which believers were then
to go forth from, in order to "seek one to come."
9. they--rather, "(some) of the peoples."
people--Greek, "peoples."
kindreds--Greek, "tribes"; all save the elect (whence it is not
said, The peoples . . . but
[some] of the peoples . . . , or,
some of the peoples . . . may refer to those of the nations . . .,
who at the time shall hold possession of Palestine and Jerusalem).
shall see--So Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. But A, B, C, and
ANDREAS, the present, "see," or rather (Greek, "blepousin"),
"look upon." The prophetic present.
dead bodies--So Vulgate, Syriac, and
ANDREAS. But A, B, C, and
Coptic, singular, as in @Re 11:8, "dead body." Three and a half
days answer to the three and a half years
(see on Re 11:2,3),
the half of seven, the full and perfect number.
shall not suffer--so B, Syriac, Coptic, and
ANDREAS. But A, C,
and Vulgate read, "do not suffer."
in graves--so Vulgate and
PRIMASIUS. But B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and
ANDREAS, singular;
translate, "into a sepulchre," literally, "a
monument." Accordingly, in righteous retribution in kind, the flesh of
the Antichristian hosts is not buried, but given to
all the fowls in mid-heaven to eat (@Re 19:17,18,21).
10. they that dwell upon . . . earth--those who belong to the earth,
as its citizens, not to heaven (@Re 3:10 8:13 12:12 13:8).
shall--so Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. But A, B, and C read
the present tense; compare Note,
see on Re 11:9, on
"shall not suffer."
rejoice over them--The Antichristianity of the last days shall
probably be under the name of philosophical enlightenment and
civilization, but really man's deification of himself. Fanaticism shall
lead Antichrist's followers to exult in having at last seemingly
silenced in death their Christian rebukers. Like her Lord, the Church
will have her dark passion week followed by the bright resurrection
morn. It is a curious historical coincidence that, at the fifth Lateran
Council, May 5, 1514, no witness (not even the Moravians who were
summoned) testified for the truth, as HUSS and
JEROME did at Constance;
an orator ascended the tribunal before the representatives of papal
Christendom, and said, "There is no reclaimant, no opponent."
LUTHER, on
October 31, 1517, exactly three and a half years afterwards, posted up
his famous theses on the church at Wittenberg. The objection is, the
years are years of three hundred sixty-five, not three hundred sixty,
days, and so two and a half days are deficient; but still the
coincidence is curious; and if this prophecy be allowed other
fulfilments, besides the final and literal one under the last
Antichrist, this may reasonably be regarded as one.
send gifts one to another--as was usual at a joyous festival.
tormented them--namely, with the plagues which they had power to
inflict (@Re 11:5,6); also, by their testimony against the earthly.
11. Translate as Greek, "After the three days and an half."
the Spirit of life--the same which breathed life into Israel's
dry bones, @Eze 37:10,11
(see on Eze 37:10,11),
"Breath came into them." The passage
here, as there, is closely connected with Israel's restoration as a
nation to political and religious life. Compare also concerning the
same, @Ho 6:2, where Ephraim says, "After two days will He revive
us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall
live in His sight."
into--so B and Vulgate. But A reads (Greek, "en autois"),
"(so as to be) IN them."
stood upon their feet--the very words in @Eze 37:10, which proves
the allusion to be to Israel's resurrection, in contrast to "the
times of the Gentiles" wherein these "tread under foot the holy city."
great fear--such as fell on the soldiers guarding Christ's tomb
at His resurrection (@Mt 28:4), when also there was a great
earthquake (@Re 11:2).
saw--Greek, "beheld."
12. they--so A, C, and Vulgate. But B, Coptic, Syriac, and
ANDREAS read, "I heard."
a cloud--Greek, "the cloud"; which may be merely the generic
expression for what we are familiar with, as we say "the clouds."
But I prefer taking the article as definitely alluding to
THE cloud
which received Jesus at His ascension, @Ac 1:9 (where there is no
article, as there is no allusion to a previous cloud, such as there is
here). As they resembled Him in their three and a half years'
witnessing, their three and a half days lying in death (though not for
exactly the same time, nor put in a tomb as He was), so also in their
ascension is the translation and transfiguration of the sealed of Israel
(@Re 7:1-8), and the elect of all nations, caught up out of the
reach of the Antichristian foe. In @Re 14:14-16, He is represented
as sitting on a white cloud.
their enemies beheld them--and were thus openly convicted by God for
their unbelief and persecution of His servants; unlike Elijah's
ascension formerly, in the sight of friends only. The Church caught up
to meet the Lord in the air, and transfigured in body, is justified by
her Lord before the world, even as the man-child (Jesus) was "caught up
unto God and His throne" from before the dragon standing ready to
devour the woman's child as soon as born.
13. "In that same hour"; literally, "the hour."
great earthquake--answering to the "great earthquake" under the sixth
seal, just at the approach of the Lord (@Re 6:12). Christ was
delivered unto His enemies on the fifth day of the week, and on the
sixth was crucified, and on the sabbath rested; so it is under the
sixth seal and sixth trumpet that the last suffering of the Church,
begun under the fifth seal and trumpet, is to be consummated, before she
enters on her seventh day of eternal sabbath. Six is the number of
the world power's greatest triumph, but at the same time verges on
seven, the divine number, when its utter destruction takes place.
Compare "666" in @Re 13:18, "the number of the beast."
tenth part of the city fell--that is, of "the great city"
(@Re 16:19 Zec 14:2). Ten is the number of the world kingdoms
(@Re 17:10-12), and the beast's horns
(@Re 13:1), and the
dragon's (@Re 12:3). Thus, in the Church-historical view, it is
hereby implied that one of the ten apostate world kingdoms fall. But in
the narrower view a tenth of Jerusalem under Antichrist falls. The
nine-tenths remain and become when purified the center of Christ's
earthly kingdom.
of men--Greek, "names of men." The men are as accurately enumerated
as if their names were given.
seven thousand--ELLIOTT interprets seven chiliads or provinces,
that is, the seven Dutch United Provinces lost to the papacy; and "names
of men," titles of dignity, duchies, lordships, &c. Rather,
seven thousand combine the two mystical perfect and comprehensive
numbers seven and thousand, implying the full and complete destruction of the impenitent.
the remnant--consisting of the Israelite inhabitants not slain. Their
conversion forms a blessed contrast to @Re 16:9; and above,
@Re 9:20,21. These repenting (@Zec 12:10-14 13:1), become in the
flesh the loyal subjects of Christ reigning over the earth with His
transfigured saints.
gave glory to the God of heaven--which while apostates, and worshipping
the beast's image, they had not done.
God of heaven--The apostates of the last days, in pretended scientific
enlightenment, recognize no heavenly power, but only the natural
forces in the earth which come under their observation. His receiving
up into heaven the two witnesses who had power during their time
on earth to shut heaven from raining (@Re 11:6), constrained His
and their enemies who witnessed it, to acknowledge the God of heaven,
to be God of the earth (@Re 11:4). As in
@Re 11:4 He declared
Himself to be God of the earth by His two witnesses, so now He
proves Himself to be God of heaven also.
14. The second woe--that under the sixth trumpet (@Re 9:12-21),
including also the prophecy, @Re 11:1-13: Woe to the world, joy to
the faithful, as their redemption draweth nigh.
the third woe cometh quickly--It is not mentioned in detail for the
present, until first there is given a sketch of the history of the
origination, suffering, and faithfulness of the Church in a time of
apostasy and persecution. Instead of the third woe being detailed, the
grand consummation is summarily noticed, the thanksgiving of the
twenty-four elders in heaven for the establishment of
Christ's kingdom on earth, attended with the
destruction of the destroyers of the earth.
15. sounded--with his trumpet. Evidently "the
LAST trumpet." Six is close to seven, but does not
reach it. The world judgments are
complete in six, but by the fulfilment of seven the world
kingdoms become Christ's. Six is the number of the world given over to
judgment. It is half of twelve, the Church's number, as three and a
half is half of seven, the divine number for completeness.
BENGEL thinks
the angel here to have been Gabriel, which name is compounded of
El, GOD, and Geber,
MIGHTY MAN (@Re 10:1). Gabriel therefore
appropriately announced to Mary the advent of the mighty God-man:
compare the account of the man-child's birth which follows
(@Re 12:1-6), to which this forms the transition though the seventh
trumpet in time is subsequent, being the consummation of the historical
episode, the twelfth and thirteen chapters. The seventh trumpet, like
the seventh seal and seventh vial, being the consummation, is
accompanied differently from the preceding six: not the consequences
which follow on earth, but those IN HEAVEN, are set before us, the
great voices and thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders in heaven, as the
half-hour's silence in heaven at the seventh seal, and
the voice out of the temple in heaven, "It is done," at the seventh
vial. This is parallel to @Da 2:44, "The God of heaven shall
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break to pieces all
these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." It is the setting up
of Heaven's sovereignty over the earth visibly, which, when
invisibly exercised, was rejected by the earthly rulers heretofore. The
distinction of worldly and spiritual shall then cease. There will be no
beast in opposition to the woman. Poetry, art, science, and social life
will be at once worldly and Christian.
kingdoms--A, B, C, and Vulgate read the singular, "The kingdom (sovereignty) of (over) the world is
our Lord's and His Christ's."
There is no good authority for English Version reading. The
kingdoms of the world give way to the kingdom of (over)
the world exercised by Christ. The earth-kingdoms are many: His
shall be one. The appellation "Christ," the Anointed, is here,
where His kingdom is mentioned appropriately for the first time used
in Revelation. For it is equivalent to KING. Though priests and
prophets also were anointed, yet this term is peculiarly applied to
Him as King, insomuch that "the Lord's anointed" is His title as
KING,
in places where He is distinguished from the priests. The glorified Son
of man shall rule mankind by His transfigured Church in heaven, and by
His people Israel on earth: Israel shall be the priestly mediator of
blessings to the whole world, realizing them first.
he--not emphatic in the Greek.
shall reign for ever and ever--Greek, "unto the ages of the ages."
Here begins the millennial reign, the consummation of "the mystery of
God" (@Re 10:7).
16. before God--B and Syriac read, "before the throne of God."
But A, C, Vulgate, and Coptic read as English Version.
seats--Greek, "thrones."
17. thanks--for the answer to our prayers (@Re 6:10,11) in
destroying them which destroy the earth (@Re 11:18), thereby
preparing the way for setting up the kingdom of Thyself and Thy saints.
and art to come--omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac,
CYPRIAN, and
ANDREAS. The consummation having actually come, they do not address Him
as they did when it was still future, "Thou that art to come." Compare
@Re 11:18, "is come." From the sounding of the seventh trumpet He is
to His people JAH,
the ever present Lord, WHO IS, more peculiarly than
JEHOVAH "who is, was, and is to come."
taken to thee thy great power--"to Thee" is not in the Greek.
Christ takes to Him the kingdom as His own of right.
18. the nations were angry--alluding to @Ps 99:1,
Septuagint, "The Lord is become King: let the peoples become
angry." Their anger
is combined with alarm (@Ex 15:14 2Ki 19:28, "thy
rage against Me is come up into Mine ears, I will put My hook in thy
nose," &c.). Translate, as the Greek is the same. "The nations
were angered, and Thy anger is come." How petty man's impotent
anger, standing here side by side with that of the omnipotent God!
dead . . . be judged--proving that this seventh trumpet is at the
end of all things, when the judgment on Christ's foes and the reward of
His saints, long prayed for by His saints, shall take place.
the prophets--as, for instance, the two prophesying witnesses
(@Re 11:3), and those who have showed them kindness for Christ's
sake. Jesus shall come to effect by His presence that which we have
looked for long, but vainly, in His absence, and by other means.
destroy them which destroy the earth--Retribution in kind (compare
@Re 16:6 Lu 19:27).
See on Da 7:14-18.
19. A similar solemn conclusion to that of the seventh seal,
@Re 8:5, and to that of the seventh vial, @Re 16:18. Thus, it
appears, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, are
not consecutive, but parallel, and ending in the same consummation. They
present the unfolding of God's plans for bringing about the grand end
under three different aspects, mutually complementing each other.
the temple--the sanctuary or Holy place (Greek, "naos"),
not the whole temple (Greek, "hieron").
opened in heaven--A and C read the article, "the temple of God "which
is" in heaven, was opened."
the ark of his testament--or ". . . His covenant." As in the first
verse the earthly sanctuary was measured, so here its heavenly antitype
is laid open, and the antitype above to the ark of the covenant in
the Holiest Place below is seen, the pledge of God's faithfulness to His
covenant in saving His people and punishing their and His enemies. Thus
this forms a fit close to the series of trumpet judgments and an
introduction to the episode (the twelfth and thirteen chapters) as to
His faithfulness to His Church. Here first His secret place, the
heavenly sanctuary, is opened for the assurance of His people; and
thence proceed His judgments in their behalf (@Re 14:15,17 15:5 16:17),
which the great company in heaven laud as "true and righteous." This
then is parallel to the scene at the heavenly altar, at the close of the
seals and opening of the trumpets (@Re 8:3), and at the close of the
episode (the twelfth through fifteenth chapters) and opening of the
vials (@Re 15:7,8).
See on Re 12:1, note at the
opening of the chapter.