Chapter XXVII (continued, part 48)
U). The Lord alone by His coming can make tlie kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The "purple" Is the badge of empire; even as in mockery It was put on our Lord, decked—ij/., "gilded." stones— (7rcpfr, " stone." fllthlness-A, B, and Andhkas read, "the filthy (Impure) things." 5. upon
forth blasphemous pretensions worse than in Pagan days. So the Pope is placed by the cardinals in (iod's temple on
. . . forehead . . . name—as liarlots usually had. What a contrast to "Holiness to the Lokd," Inscribed on the mitre oil the high priest's /orc/icrtd.' niyntery—Implying a spiritual fact heretofore lildden, and incapable of discovery by mere reason, but now revealed. As the union
the altar to sit there, und the cnrilinals kiss the feel of t he
I'ope. This ceremony is call(>d In Konilsli writers the
adoration. Historic de Clerge, Ainsterd., 1716; and LetTENniiROH'S Nolitla Curi<e JlomaiKP, 10H3, p. 125; HkidkgUEK, M]/st. 7J«6., 1, 511, 514, 5.'i7; a Papal coin (Numisniatn
of Christ and the Church is a "great mystery" (a spiritual truth of momentous interest, once hidden, now revealed, Epheslans 5. 31, 32); so the Church conforming to the world and thereby becoming a harlot is a counter "mystery" (or spiritual truth, symliollcally now revealed). As Iniquity in the harlot Is a leaven working In "mystny," and therefore called "the mi/stery of Inlciulty," so when she Is destroyed, the Iniquity heretofore working (comparatively) latently In her, shall be revealed In the man of
Pontiflcum. Paris, 1C79, p. 5) has the blasphemous legend, " Quern creant, adorant." Kneeling and Iciss-ing are the wor»
sliip meant by St. Jolin'sword nine times used in rcsp(>ct
to tlie rival of God (Greek proskunein). Alximinafion, too.
Is the scriptural term for an .Idol, or any creature worshipped with the homage due to the Creator. Hllll, lliere
Is some check on the God-opposed world-power whilst ridden by tlie harlot; the consummated Anllchrlst will
ii\i<iiiit!i, the open oinbodlnient of all previous evil. Con-
lie wlien, having destroyed her, the beast shall be revealed
trast the "mystery of God" and "godliness," ch. 10.7;
as the concentration and incarnation of all the sclf-deily-
1 Timothy 3. 10. It was Rome that crucified (Christ; that destroy<>d Jerusalem and scattered the Jews ; tlnvt persecuted the early Christians In Pagan times, and Protestant Christians in Papal times ; and probably sliall be aj[alo
Ing God-opposed jirlnclples which liave appeared In va-
rious forms and degrees heretofore. "The Church has gained outward recognition 1)3' leaning on the worldpower which In Us turn uses the Church for Ita own ob- ^90
Babylon, Ihe Mother of all Abominations. REVELATION XVII. The Interpretation of the Sevcjt Heaas,
"CX>rruptio optimi pessima;" when the Church falls, she sinks lower than the godless world, in proportion as her right place is higlier than the world. It is striking that in v. 3, "woman" has not the article, " tht woman," as if she had been before mentioned : for though identical in one sense with the woman, ch. 12, in another sense she is not. The elect are never perverted into apostates, and still remain as the true woman invisibly contained in the harlot; yet Chris tendora regarded as the woman has apostatized from
restored to Its pristine grandeur, such as it had under the Cjesars, Just before the burning of the liarlot and of itself with her. So 'H.iwoi.YtXSS, De Antichristo (who lived in
tlie second century), thought. Popeiy cannot be at one and the same time the "mystery of iniquity," and the manifested or revealed Antichrist. Probably it will compromise for political power (u. 3; the portion of Christianity still in its creed, and thus shall prepare tlie way for Antichrist's manifestation. The name Babylon, which in the image, Daniel 2., is given to the )iead, is here given to the harlot, which marlis lier as being connected with the fourth kingdom, Rome, the lust part of the image. Benedict XIII., in his indiction for a jubilee, a. d.
its first faith. 8. beast . . . was, anil Is not—(Cf. v. 11.) The time when the beast "is not" is the time during which it has " the deadly wound :" the time of the seventh head becoming Christian externally, when its beast-like character was put into suspension temporarily. Tlie healing of its wound answers to its ascendiny out of the bottomless pit. The beast, or Antichristian world-power, re turns worse than ever, with Satanic powers from hell (cii
1725, called Rome " the mother of all believers, and the mistress of all chui-ches" (harlots like lierself ). Tlie correspondence of syllables and accents In Greek is striking; He porne kai to Iherion; He numphe kai to arnion. The whore and the beast; the Bride and the Lamb, of Iiurlots — Oreek, " of the harlots and of the abominations." Not merely Rome, but Christendom as a whole, even as formerly Israel as a whole,, has become a harlot. The invisible Church of true believers is hidden and dispersed in the visible Church. The boundary lines whicli separate harlot and woman are not denominational nor drawn ex-
11. 7), not merely from the sea of convulsed nations (ch. 13.
1). Christian civilization gives the beast only a temporary wound, whence the deadly U'ound is always mentioned in connection with its being healed up, tlie nonexistence of the beast in connection with its reappear ance; and Daniel does not even notice any change in the world-power effected by Christianity. We are endangered on one side by the spurious Christianity of the har
' ternally, but can only be spiritually discerned. If Rome were the only seat of Babylon, mucli of the spiritual profit of Revelation would be lost to us; but the harlot "sitletli upon many waters" {v. 1), and "all. nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication" (u. 2; ch. 18.3; " the earth," eh. 19. 2). External extensiveness over the whole world, and internal conformity to the world—worldliness in extent and contents — is symbolized by the name of the world-city, "Babylon." As the sun shines on all the earth, thus the woman clothed with the sun is to let her light penetrate to the uttermost parts of the earth. But she in externally Christianizing the world, permits her-
lot, on the other by the open Antichristianity of the beast; the third class is Christ's "little flock." go—So B Vulgate, and Andrea.s read the future tense. But A and iRENiBUS, "goeth." Into perdition—The continuance of this revived seventli (i. e., the eighth) head is short: it is therefore called " the son of perdition," who is essentially doomed to it almost immediately after his appearance names were—So Vulgate and Andreas. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic read the singular, "name is." written In— Greek, "upon." whlcU—rather, "when they behold the beast llmt it was," &c. .So Vulgate, was, and is not, and yet Is—A, B, and Andreas read, "... and shall come"
self to be seduced by the world; thus her universality or catholicity is not that of the Jerusalem which we look for (" the MOTHEK of us all," ch. 21. 2 ; Isaiali 2. 2-4 ; Galatians
(lit., "be present," viz., again: Greek kai parestai). The Hebrew tetragrammaton, or sacred four letters in Jehovah " who is, wlio was, and wlio is to come," the believer's object of worship, has its contrasted counterpart in the beast " who was, and is not, and shall be present," the object of the earth's worship. [Bengel.] They exult with wonder in seeing that the beast which had seemed to have received its death-blow from Christianity, is on the eve of reviving with greater power than ever on the ruins of that religion which tormented tliem (ch. 11. 10). 9. Cf. ch. 13. 18; Daniel 12. 10, where similarly spiritual discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand the symbolical prophecy, seven Ueads and seven mountains — The connection between mountains and kings must be deeper tlian the mere outward fact to which incidental allusion is made, that Rome (the then world
4. 26), but that of Babylon, the world-wide but harlot city
[As Babylon was destroyed, and the Jews restored to Jerusalem by Cyrus, so our Cyrus—a Persian name meaning Vnesun—the Sun of righteousness, shall bring Israel,
literal and spiritual, to the holy Jerusalem at his coming. Babylon and Jerusalem ai-e the two opposite poles of tlie epiritual world.] Still, the Romish Churcli is not only aeeidentally, and as a matter of fact, but in virtue of its very princii'le, a harlot, the metropolis of wlioredom, "the mother of harlots;" whereas the evangelical Protestant Church is, according to her principle and fundamental creed, a chaste woman; the Reform;Uion was a protest of the woman against the harlot. Tlie spirit of the heathen world-kingdom Rome had, before the Reformation, changed the Church in* the West into a Church-
city) is on seven hills (whence heathen Rome had a national festival called Septimontium., the feast of the sovt f hilled city [Plutarch]; and on the imperial coins, jin* as here, she is represented as a woman sealed^ on seven hilk Coin of Vespasian, described by Captain Smyth, fioman
State, Rome; and in the East, into a State-Church, fettered by tlie world-power, liaving its centre in Byzantium; the Roman and Greek churches have thus fallen from the in-
visil>le spiritual essence of tlie Gospel into the elements of the world. [Aubeklen.J Cf. with the " woman" called ''Babylon" here, the woman named "wickedness," or " lawlessness," " iniquity" (Zecliariah 5. 7, 8, 11), carried to Babylon; cf. "the mystery of iniquity" and " tlie man of sin," "that wicked one," lit., "the lawless one" (2 Tliessalonlans2.7,8; also Matthew 24. 12). G. martyrs—witnesses. I %vondfrc<l ivftlt {{reat nflmirntinn—As the Creek is the same in the verb and the noun, translate the latter "wonder." John certainly did not admire lier in the modern English sense. Elsewhere {v. S; cli. 13.3), all tlie earthly-minded (" tliey tiiat dwell on the earth") ifonc/er
Coins, p. 310; Ackerman, 1., p. 87). The seven heads aiu hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms (v. 10), and seven geographical mountains. The true connection is, as the head is the prominent part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in the land. Like "sea" and "earth" and "waters . . . peoples" (v. 15), so "mountains" have a sj^mbolic.al meaning, viz., promiiiput seals of power. Especially such as are prominent hindrances
to the cause of God (Psalm G8. 1(>, 17; Isaiah 40. 4 ; 41.15; 41i.
11; Ezekiel 35.2); especially Babylon (which geograplii-
cally was In aplaiin, but siiiritually is called a destroying mountain, Jeremiali 51. 25), in majestic contrast to which stands Mount Zion, " the mountain of tlie Lord's lioiisc"
In admiration of the beast. Here only is John's wonder called forth; not the 6ea«<, but the woman sunken into the harlot, the Church become a worlil-lovlng apostate, moves his sorrowful astonishment at so awful a cliange. That the world should be beastly is natural, but tliat the
(Isaiah 2. 2), and the' heavenly mount ; ch. 21. 10, "a givat
an<l liigii mountain . . . and that great city, the holy Jerusalem." .So In Daniel 2. 3'), the stone becomns a >noiin- <am—Messiah's universal kingdom supplanting the previous world-kingdoms. .\s nature shadows forth the great realities ol the spiritual world, so seven-hillej 591
fialthful bride should become the whore is monstrous, and excites the same amazement in him as the same awful change in Israel excited in Isaiah and Jeremiah. "Hor-
rible thing" in them answers to "abominations" here.
Interpretation of the Seien Heads, KKVJ-LATION XVII. and that of the Ten Ho:-^.
Rome is a represeulative of the seven -lieiided worldpower of which the dragon has been, and is the prince. Tlie "seven kinss" aie hereby distinguished from the "ten kings" (u. 12): the former are what the hitter are not, "mountains," great seats of the world-powor. Tlie seven universal God-opposed monarchies are Egypt (tlie
"goeth intc perdition," and is applied to au individual
viz., Judas, in the only other passage where the phrase occurs (John 17. 12). He is essentially a child of destruction, and hence he has but a little time ascended out of the bottomless pit, when he "goes into perdition" (r. 8,11). "Whilst the Chui-ch passes through death of the flesh to glory of the Spirit, the beast p.asses through the glory of the flesh todeath." [Auberlen.] Is of the seven—rather "springs o!/« o/ the seven." Tlie eighth is no merely ono of the seven restored, but a new power or person proceeding out of the seven, and at the same time embodying al! the God-opposed features of the previous seven concentrated and consummated ; for whicli reason there are said to be not eight, but only seven heads, for the eighth is the embodiment of all tlie seven. In the birth-pangs which prepare the "regeneration" there are wars, earthquakes, and disturbances [Auberlen], wherein Antichrist takes his rise (" sea," ch. 13.1; Mark 13.8; Luke 21.9-11). He does not fall like the other seven (v. 10), but is destroyed, going to his ovin perdition, by the Lord in person. 13. ten kings . . . received no kingdom as yet ; but' receive power as kings . . . -vvitli tlie beast—Hence and from v.
first world-power which came into collision with God's people), Assyrij, Bal)ylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome, the Germa lic-Slavonic empire (the clciy of the fourth kingdom mixed with its iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image, a fifth HI vterial, Daniel 2. :«,34, 4'2, -13, symbolizing this last head). These seven might seem not to accord with the
sevcvi heads in Daniel 7. 4-7, o/ie head on the first beast (Bai ylon), one on the second (Medo-Persia), Jour on the third (Greece; viz., Egypt, Syria, Thrace with Bithynia, and Greece with Macedon): but Egypt and Greece are in
J>oth lists. Syria answers to Assyria (from which the name Syria is abbreviated), and Thrace with Bithynia answers to the Gotliic-Germanic-Slavonic hordes which, pouring down on Rome from the North, founded the Germanic-Slavonic empire. Tlte ivoman sitting on the seven hills implies the Old and New Testament Church conforming
14, 16, it seems that these ten kings or kingdoms, are to be contemporaries with the beast in its last or eighth form,
to, and resting on, tlie world-power, (. e., on all the seven world-kingdoms. Abraham and Isaac dissembling as to their wives through fear of the kings of Egypt foreshaiiowed this. Cf. Ezekiel 16. and 23., on Israel's whoredoms with Egypt, Assyria, Babylon; and Matthew 7, 24; 21. 10-
viz.. Antichrist. Cf. Daniel 2. 34, 44, "the stone smote the . image upon his feet," i. e., upon the ten toes, which are in
t'. 41-44, interpreted to be "kings." The ten kingdoms are not, therefore, ten which arose in the overthrow of Rome (heathen), but are to rise out of the last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head. I agree with Alford that the phrase "a^ kings," inipliesthat they reserve their kingly rights in their alliance with the beast, wherein "they give their power and strength unto" him (v. 13). Thej have the name of kings, but not with undivided kingly power. [WoRDSWOR-rH.] See Auberi-en's not so probable view, JS^ote, v. 3. one hour-a definite time of short duration, during which "the devil is come down to the iiihabiters of the earth and of the sea, having great wrath, because he knowelh that he hath but a short time." Probably the three and a half years (ch. 11.2, 3; 13.5), Antichrist is in existence long before the fallof Babj Ion; but it is only at its fall he obtains the vassalage of the ten kings. He in the first instance imposes on the Jews as the Messiah, coming in his own name; then persecutes those of them who refuse his blasphemous pretensions. Not until tlie sixth vial, in the latter part of his reign, does lie associate the ten kings with him In war with the Lamb, having gained them over by the aid of the spirits of devils working miracles. His connection with Israel appears from his sitting " in the temple of God" (2 Thessalonians 2. 4), and as the antilypical "aliomlnation of desolation standing In the Holy place" (Daniel 9.27; 12. 11; Matthew 24. 15), and " in the city where our Lord was crucified" (ch. 11. 8). It is ivmarkable (hat Iren.bus, //opr.,
12, 23-26, on the characteristics of the New Testament Church's harlotry, viz., distrust, suspicion, hatred, treachery, divisions into parties, false doctrine. 10. there are
—translate, "they (the seven heads) are seven kings." Ave . . . one Greek, "the five . . . the one:" the first
five of the seven are fallen (a word applicable not to forms of government passing aivay, but to the fall of once powerful empires : Egypt, Ezekiel 29. and 30.; Assyria and Nineveh, Nahum 3. I-l!); Babylon, ch. 1S.2; Jeremiah
50. and 51.; Medo-Persia, Daniel 8.-3-7,20-22; 10.13; 11.2; Greece, Daniel 11.4). Rome was "the one" existing in
cit. .lohn's days. "Kings" is the Scripture phrase for kingdoms, because these kingdoms are generally represented in character by some one prominent head, as Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Medo-I'ersla by Cyrus, Greece by Alexander, (Sc. the other is not yet come —Not as Alfoub, inaccurately representing Auher-
liKN, the Christian empire beginning with Constantine
but, the Gernianic-iilavonic empire beginning and continuing in its beast-like, i. e., heathen Antichristian character for only "a short space." The time wlien It is
(jiid of it "it is not" (r. 11), is the time during which
' IS "wounded to dcalh,"and has the "deadly wound"
"li. 13.3). The external Christianiziition of the migrating
'lordes from the North which descended on Rome, is the wotmti to the beast answering 'to the earth swallowing up Jie Jloiid (heathen tribes) .sent by the liragon, Satan, to tlrown the woman, the Church. The emphasis palpably
5. 25, and St. Cvitii. oj' Jerusai.icm (Kukkinus, Hist., 10.37), projihcsied that Antichrist should have his seat at Jerusalem, and should restore the kingdom of the Jews. Julian the apostate, long alter, look part with the Jews, and aUled In building their temple, herein being Antichrist's forerunner. 13. one mind—one «(>»i/i»»('H/. shall give—So Copiic. But A, B, and iSi/riac, "give." strength — Gre(^k, "authority." Tlie.v become his dependent allies
Is <m "a short space," which therefore conujs first in the Greek, not on "he must continue," as if liis conlinnanee for some [considerable] time were implied, as Al^- KOKD wrongly thinks. The time of external Christliinlza-
tioii (whilst the beast's wound continues) has lasted for upwards of fourteen centuries, ever since Conslimtlne. Rome and the Greek Church have jiartially lunh'd the wound b.v image-worship. 11. benst that . . . Js not. his beastly character being kept down by outward Christianization of the state until ho starts up to life again as "the eighth" king, his "wound being healed"
(i). 14). Thus Antichrist sets up to bo King of kings, but scarcely has ho put forth his claim when the true IClNO OF KINGS appears and dashes him down In a moment to destruct ion. 14. Tl>ese slinll . . . war witli (he I^ainb —In league with the beast. This Is a summary anticipation of ch. 19. 19. This shall not be till niter they have
(ch. 13. 3), Antichrist manHi'sted in fullest and most intense opjfositlon to God. The llic Is emphatlcal In the Greek. //'', peculiarly and pre-eminently: answering to " the little horn" with eyes like the eyes of a man, and
first I'Xccuted Judgment on the harlot {v. 1.5, Iti). I^ord at lords, Ac—anticipating ch. 19. 16. art—not In the Greek. Therefore translate, "And they that are with lllm, called chosen, and faithful (shall overcome them, Viz., the beast and his alllinl kings)." These ha vi> been with Clirkst la heaven unseen, biU now appear witli ilim. l.'j. (Ver. 1, Isaiah 8. 7.) An impious parody of Jehovah who 'sittolh upon the flood." [Ai.I'oud.] Also, contrast the "many waters" eh. 19. 6, "Alh'luia." The "peoples," *e., here nianc the universality o' the spiritual foruloatlou of Ul«
tt mouth speaking great things, before whom tliree of
the ten horns ivere plueked up b// the roots, and to whom the whole ten "give thi^lr power and strength" (v. 12, 13,
]7). That a /XTTOJirti! Antichrist will stand at the head of the Antichristian kingdom, Is likely from the aniilogy
of Antiochus Epipliano.i, the Old Testament AnMchrlst, 'the little horn" In Daniel H. O-l'i; also, "the man of sin, ion of perdition" (2 Thessaloiilans 2. 3-8), answers hero to
Thz Victory of the Lamb. REVELATION XVI II. 27.C Fall of BahijUl iht Grbat.
Church. The "tongues" lemitid uf5 of the original Babel, the eonfusiou of tongues, the l)eginniiig of Baltyloii, and the first coinmenceruent of idolatrous apost^isy after tlie flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of tlie harlot, claims a double supremacy over all peopfex, typified by the '-two swords" according to the interpretation of Boniface VIII. tn the Bull, "Unani Sanetam," and represented by the two keys, ttz., spiritual as the universal bishop, whence he is crowned with the raitre; and temporal, whence lie is also crowned with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrast with the Pope's diademn the " many diadems" of Him who alone lias olrtiin to, and shall exercise wiien He ^ome, the twofold dominion (ch. 19. lli). 16. <ipon tlie beast—But A, B, Vulgale, a,\\ii Sj/riac read, "And the beast." sUall make her Uesulate—liaving first dismounted her from lier seat
cannot represent a f jiritual p. wer, but a world-power In this verse the hai lot is presented before us ripe foi judgment. The ISlh ciiapter details that judgmeuu
CHAPTER XVin. Ver. 1-21. Cabylon's fall: God's Peovle Cali-kd OUT OK hek: the Kings and Mekchants of the Earth MOUKN, WHILST THE SAINTS REJOICE AT HKK FALL. 1. And—So Vulgale and Andiieas. But A, B, Sijriac, and Coptic omit "and;" power— GrccA-, "authority." lightened-" illumined." ^vith—G'^•ce^-, "owing to." a. ntightily . . . seroujf—Not supported by MSS. But A, B, Vulgale, .SyruK, x:u\ Coptic read, "with (lit., in; a mighty voice." is fallen, is fallen—So A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Andreas. But B and Coptic omit the second " is fallen" (Isaiah 21. 9; Jeremiah 51. S). This pin-ase is here prophetical of her fall, still future, as v. i proves, devils— OreeA;, "demons. " the hold—a keep or prison. 3. the wineSo B, Syriac and Coptic. But A, C, and Vulgate omit, drunk—Ch. 14. S, from which perhaps "the wine" may have been interpolated. Tiiey have drunk of her fornication, the consequence of wJiich will be tvrath to themselves. But A, U, and C read, "(owing to the wrath of her foniicutioii all natiDiis) have /a«f»(." Vulgale and most versions r id as English Version, which may be the right reiuliiig .lougli not supported by the oldest MSS. Babylon, tlie whore, is destroyed, before the beast slays the two witnesses (eli. 11.), and then the beast is destroyed himself, ahnndimcc—ifjV., "power." delicaciesGr'ree/fc, "luxury." Hee Note, 1 Tiiaotliy 5. 11, where the Greek verb " wax wanton" is akin to the noun here. Translate, "wanton luxury." The refeience is not to earthly merchand'se, but to spiritual wares, indulgences, idolatries, superst'tions, worldly comproiuises, wherewith the har? lot, t. e., the apostate Church, has made Vierchan4ise of men. This applies especially to Rome; but the Greek, and even iu a less degree Protestant churches, are not guiltless. However, the principle of evangelical Protestantism is pure, but the principle ot Rome and the Greek church is not so. 4:. Come out of her, my people Quoted froni Jeremiah 50. 8 ; 51. ti, 45. Even in the Romish Church God has a people: but they are in great danger
•jn the beast (v. 3). naked—stripped of all her gaud {v. i). As Jerusalem used the world-power to crucify her Saviour,and then was destroyed by that very power. Home;
iSO the Church, having apostatized to the world, shall nave judgment executed on her first by the world-power, the beast and his allies; and these afterwards shall have
judgment t^xecuted on them by Christ Himself in person. So Israel leaning on Egypt, a broken reed, is pierced by
it, and then Egypt itself is punished. So Israel's whoredom with Assyria and Babylon was punished by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. So the Church when
It goes a-whoring after the word as if ii were the reality, instead of witnessing against its apostasy from God, is false to its profession ; being no longer a reality itself, but a sham, the Church is rightly judged by that world which for a time had used the Church to further its own ends, whilst all the while "hating" Christ's unworldly religion, but which now no longer wants the Church's aid. eat her flesh Greek plural, "masses of flesh," i. e., "carnal possessions;" implying the fulness of carnality into which the Church is sunk. The judgment on the harlot is again and again described (ch. IS. 1; 19. 5); first by an "angel Uaving great power" (ch. IS. 1), then by "another voice from heaven" (cli. IS. 4-20), then by "a mighty angel"' (ch. 18.21-24). Cf. Ezekiel 16. 37-44, originally said of Israel, but further applicable to the New Testament Church when fallen into spiritual fornication. On the phrase, "eat . . . flesh" for prey upon one's property, and injure the character and person, cf. Psalm 14. 4; 27. 2; Jeremiah
• their only safety is in coming out of her at once. So also in every apostate or world-conforming Church there are some of God's invisible and true Church, who, if they would be safe, must come out. Especially at the eve of God's judgment on apostate Christendom: as Lot was warned to come out of Sodom just before its destruction, and Israel to come from about the tents of Dathan and Abirani. So the first Christians came out of Jerusalem when the apostate Jewish Church was judged. "State and Church are precious gifts of God. But the State being desecrated to a diflTerentend from what God designed it,
10. 25; Mieah 3. 3. The First Napoleon's edict published at Borne in 1S09, confiscating the Papal dominions and joining them to France, and lately the severance of large portions of the Pope's territory from his sway, and the union of them to the dominions of the king of Italy, virtually through Louis Napoleon, are a first instalment of the full realization of this prophecy of the whore's destruction. "Her flesh" seems to point to her temporal dignities and lesources, as distinguished from " herself" (Greek). How striking a retribution, that having obtained her first temporal dominions, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome, by recognizing the vxtirper Pepiu as lawful king of France, she should be stripped of her dominions by another usurper of France, the Napoleonic dynasty ! burit . . . with fli-e —the legal punishment of an abominable fornication. 17. liaUt put—the prophetical past t«nse for the future, fulfil Greek, "do," or "accomplish." The Greek poiemi,
viz., to govern for, and as under, God, becomes beast-like; the Church apostatizing becomes the harlot. The true woman is the kernel: beast and harlot are the shell; whenever the kernel is mature, the shell is thrown away." [Aubeklen.] "The harlot is not Rome alone (though she is pre-eminently so), but every Cliurch that has not Christ's mind and spirit. False Christendom, di-
x ided into very many sects, is truly Babylon, t. e., confusion. However, in all Christendom the true Jesuscongregation, the woman clothed with the sun, lives and is hidden. Corrupt, lifeless Christendom is the harlot, whose great aim is the pleasure of the flesh, and which is governed by the spirit of nature and the world." [Hahn in Aubeklen.] The first justification of the woman is in her being called out of Babylon the harlot, as the culminating stage of tlie latter's sin, when judgment is about to fall: for apostate Christendom, Babylon, is not to be converted, but to he destroyed. Secondly, she has to pass through an ordeal of persecution from the beast, which purifies and prepares her for the transfiguration-glory at Christ's coming (cli. 20. 4; Luke 21. 28). be not partakers — Greek, "have no felloii'ship with her sins." lliat ye re-i celve not of lier plnsues—as Lot's wife, by lingering too near the polluted and doomed city 5. her sins—as a 693
is distinct from that which is Irannluled " fulfilled," Greek leleslhevmtai, below. hl» will Greek, his mind, or purpose; whilst they think only of doing their own purpose, to agree—'fiV., "to do (or accomplish) one mind" or " purpose." A and Vulgate omil this clause, but B supports it. the words of Go<1—foretelling the rise and downfall of the beast; Greek hoi logoi in A, B, and Andreas. English Version reading is Greek la rhcmaia, which is not well supported. No mere articulate utterances, but the edicieiit word* of Him who is llie Word, Greek logos. fiilfille<I (Ch. 10. 7.) 18. reifpieth lit., "hath kingslnx> over tlie kings." The harlot cannot be a mere city literally, but Is
Balled so in a spiritual senae (ch, 11. 8). Also the beast
GviTs People Depart from Babylon. REVELATION XVIII. The Lamentation over her.
sinner license to Indulge his lusts, bewail her—A, B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and Cypkian omit "her."- 10. God's fudgments inspire fear even in the worldly, but it is of short duration, for the kings anil great men soon attach them> selves to the beast in its last and worst shape, as open Antichrist, claiming all that the harlot bad eiaimed In blasphemous pretensions and more, and so making up to them for the loss of the harlot, mighty—ifomc in Greek means strength ; though that derivation is doubtful. H. shall—So B. But A and C read the present, "weep and mourn." mercliandlse—Greeft, "cargo:" wares carried in ships: ship-lading (cf. v. 17). Rome was not a commercial city, and Is not likely from her position to be so. The wiCTcAanrfi'se must therefore be spiritual, even as the harlot is not literal, but spiritual. She did not witness against carnal luxury and pleasure-seeking, the sonrce of the merchants' gains, but conformed to them (». 7). She cared not for the sheep, but for the wool. Professing Christian merchants in her lived as if this world were the reality, not heaven, and were unscrupulous as to the means of getting gain. Cf. Zechariah 5. 4-U (JVorcs), on the same subject, the judgment on mystical Babylorit merchants for nnjnst gain. All the merchandise here mentioned occurs repeatedly in the "Roman Ceremonial." 13. (Note, ch. 17. 4.) stones . . . pearls Greek, "stone . . . pearl." fine linen—A, B, and C read (Greek) bussinou !ov bussoH, i. e., " fine linen manufacture." [AlFOKD.] The manufacture for which Egypt (the type of the apostate Church, ch. 11. 8) was famed. Contrast " the fine linen" (Ezekiel 16. 10) put on Israel, and on the New Testament Church (ch. 1!». X\ the Bride, by God (Psalm 132. 9\ thyine wood—the citrus of the Romans: probably the cypresms thyoyides, or the thuia articulatn. " Citron wocxl," fALFORD.] A sweet-smelling tree of (\vrene in I.ybla,
grpat heap, readied Greek, "reached so far as to come Into close contact with, and to c/poi'c unto." G. Addressed to the executioners of God's wratli. reward Greek, " repay." slie rewar<led— Englinh Version reading adds "you" with none of the oldest MSS. But A, B, C, Vul-
gate, Syriac, and Coptic omit it. She had not rewarded or repaid tlie world-power for some injury whicli the worldpoWer had inflicted on her; but she had given the worldpower that which was its due, viz., spiritual delusions, because it did not like to retain God in its knowledge ; the unfaithful Church's principle was, I'opuius vult decipi, et
decipiatur, " The people like to be deceived, and let them be deceived." double—of sorrow. Contrast with this tlie double of joy which Jerusalem shall receive for her past suffering (Isaiah 61.7; Zechariah 9.12); even as she has received double punishment for her sins (Isaiah 40. 2). unto lier—So Syriac, Coptic, and Audre.^s. A, B, and C omit it. in the cup—(v. 3; ch. 1-1.8; 17.4). mietl—lit., mixed, fill to Uer double—of the Lord's cup of wrath. 7. How niucli i. e., in pi-oportion as. lived deliciously —Uixnriously: iN'oie, v. 3, where tlie Greefc is akin, sorrow — Greek, "mourning," as for a dead husband. I sit—So Vulgate. But A, B, and C, prefix " that." lamnowldow —for the world-power is my liusband and my supporter. I Bliall 8te no sorrow Greek, " mourning." " I am seated
(this long time) ... I am no widow ... I shall see no sorrow," marks her complete unconcerned security as to the past, present, and future. [Benqel.] I shall never have to mourn as one bereft of her husband. As Babylon was queen of the East, so Rome has been queen of the "West, and is called on Imperial coins " tlie eternal city." So Papal Rome i.s called by Ammian Marcei-lin, 15. 7. " Babylon is a former Rome, and Rome a latter Babylon. Rome
is a daughter of Babylon, and by her, as by her hiother, God has been pleased to subdue tlie world under one sway." |St. Augustine.] As the Jews' restoration did not take place till Babylon's fall, so R. Ktmciii, on Obadiah, writes, "\Vlien Home (Edom) shall l)e devastated, there shall be redemption to Israel." Romish idolatries have been the greatstuml)ling-blocks to the Jews' acceptance of Cluistiiinity. 8. death—on herself, tliough she thought herself secure even from the deatli of her husband, mourning— instead of licr feasting, famine instead of her luxurious delicacies (v. 7). tire—(aVo/c, ch.
u.sed for incen.se. all manner vessels— Grt-e/c, "every vessel," or "furniture." 13. cinnamon — designed by God for better purposes : being an ingredient in the holy anointing oil, and a plant in the garden of the Belove<l (Song of Solomon 4. 14); but desecrated to vile uses by the adulteress (Proverbs 7. 17). odours—of incense. A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac prefix "and amomiuni" (a precious hair ointment made from an Asiatic shrub). EnglUh Version reading is supported by Cop/)C and Andkeas, but n^t oldest MSS. ointnsents— Grcci-, "ointment." frankincense-Contrast the true "incense" whicli God loves (Psalm 141. 2; Malachi 1. 111. line Hour—The similago of the Latins. [AL.KOBD.] beasts—of burden : cattle. slaTC8 — Greek, "bodies." souls of men—(Ezekiel 27.13.) Said of slaves. Appropriate to the spiritual harlot, apostate Christendom, especially Rome, whicli*lias so often enslaved 'both bodies and .soids of men. Though the New Testament does not directlj' forbid slavery, which would.
17. 16). Ijiteral tire may liurii the literal city of Rome, whicli is situated in tlie midst of volcanic agencies. As the ground was cursed for Ad.im's sin, and the earth tinder Noah was sunk beneath tlie flood, and Sodom was burnt with fire, so may Rome be. lint as tlie harlot
is mystical (tlie whole faithless Church), tlie burning maybe mainly mystical, symbolizing utter destruction and removal. Benoel is probably right in thinking Rome will once more rise to power. The carnal, faith-
In the then state of the world, have incitt'-d a slave revolt,
less, and worldly elements In all churches, Roman, Greek, and Protestant, tend towards oni; common cen-
it virtually condemns It, as here. Popery has derived Its greatest gains from the sale of masses for tlie .wuls of men alter death, and of indulgences ijureliased from the Papal chancery by rich merchants in various countries, to be retailed at a prollt. [Mo.smoiM, U I., 06.] 1-1. Direct
tre, and prepare the way for the last form of the beast,
viz.. Antichrist. The Pharisees were in tlie main sound In creed, yet judgment fell on them as on the unsound fiadduce(?8 and half-healhenlsh Samaritans. So faithless und adulterous, carnal, worldly Protestant cliurches, will not escape for their soundness of creed, the Lord—So B,
ad<lress to Babylon, the fruits tliat tliy sonl lusted after— GrccA, "thy nutuiiin-ripe fruits of the hist (eager
desire) of the soul." An\\\\y— Greek, " fat:" "sumptuous"
C, tSyriac, and Andueas. But A and Vulgate omit. "Strong" is the meaning of God's ITihrew name, Ki^. Jndgetli—But A, B, and C read the' past tense {Greek, ki-inas)," \i\w hnlh judged her:" the prophetical past for the future: the charge In v. 4 to God's people In cmne out
In food, goodly— " splendid," "bright," in dress and etjuipage. departeil—soiiported by none of our MSS. But.V, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, nin\ Coptic read, " perished."' tliou Shalt—A, C, Vulgate, )\rn\ Syriac rt^iu\, "They (men)
shall no more find them at all." 15. of tliese titinga—
of t he things mentioned, v. 12, 13. wlilcli—" icAo." made rich by— " derived ri<'hes /?-o«') her." stand afar «ir for the fear—(Cf. i>. 10.) walling— (^(wA-, "mourn-
of her. Implies tliat tliejudgmeiit was not yet notually executed. 0. Ijlve«l dellclouBly — (/?-(V'/c, luxuriated. The faithless Church, Instead of reproving, conMlved at the Belf-lndulgcnt luxury of the great men of this world, and sanctioned It by her own practice. Contrast the world's
ing." Ifl. And—So Vulgate and .-Vn due A». But A, B, and (Jomlt. decked— ili/., "glided." stones . . . pearls Greek, "stone . . . pearl." 1! iiiid Andueas rend " pearla
rejoicing over the dead bodies of the two witnesses (ch. 11.
I!ul A and C, "pearl." 17. Is come to naught— ^I'mAr, "is desolated." slilpMiaster — (/r^cA-, " steersniHii," or "pilot." all the coinpniiy In ships— .\, C, Vulgate, tiwl
10) who had tormented It by their faltlifuliicss, with Us lamentations over the harlot who had made the way to
heaven smooth, and had lieon found a useful tool In keeping subjects In abject tyranny. Men's carnal mind relishes a religion like that of the apostate? Clinivli, which gives an opiate to conscience, whilst having the
Syriiic rend, "Every one who sailetli to a place" (B has "... to the place"): every voyager. Vessels were freighted With pilgrims to various shrines, so that In one utoutk
Flie Church's Thanksgiving in Heaven REVELATION XIX. for the Judgment on the Harlot.
(A.D. 1300)200,000 pilgrims were counted in Rome [D'AuBiGNE, Reformation]: a source of gain, not only to tlie Papal see, but to shipmasters, merchants, pilots, &c. Tliese latter, however, are not restricted to those literally "shipmisters," &c., but mainly refer, in the mystical sense, to
Rome, between a. d. L5J0 and 1580, slew more than 900,000 Protestants. Three reasons for the harlot's downfall are given: (1.) The worldly greatne.ts of her merchants, which was due to unholy traffic In spiritual things. (2.) Her .lorceries, or juggling tricks, in whicli the false prophet that ministers to the beast In its last form shall exceed her;
all who share in the spiritual traffic of apostate Christen-
doL:i, 18. when they saw— Crreefc, horontes. But A, B, C, and Andreas read, Greek, blepontes, " looking at." Greek, blepo, is to use the eyes, to look: the act of seeing without thought of the objectseen. Greek, horao, refers to the thing «een or presented to the ej'e. [Tittmann.] smoke—So B, C. j?ut A reads "place." What city Is like—cf. the similar boast as to the beast, ch. 13. 4: so closely do the harlot and beast approximate one another. Contrast tlie attribution of this praise to God, to wliom alone it is due, by His servants (Exodus 15. 11). Martial says of Rome, " Nothing
cf. "sorcerers" (ch.21.8; 22. 15), specially mentioned among those doomed to the lake of fire. (3.) Her persecution of (Old Testament) "prophets" and (New Testament) "saints."
CHAPTEE XIX.
Ver. 1-21. The Church's Thanksgiving in Heaven FOR THE Judgment on the Harlot. The Marriage op THE Lamb: the Supper: the Bride's Preparation: John is Forbidden to Worship the Angel: The Lord and His Hosts Come forth for War: the Beast and the False Prophet Cast into the Lake of Fire : the Kings and their Followers Slain by the Sword out OF Christ's Mouth. 1. As in the case of the opening of the prophecy, cli. 4.S; 3. 9, &c. ; so now, at one of the great closing events seen in vision, tlie judgment on the harlot (described In ch. IS.l, there is a song of praise in heaven to Giid: cf. ch. 7. 10, &c., toward the close of the seals, and ch. 11. 15-18, at the close of the trumpets: ch. 15.
Is equal to her ;" and Athen^us, " She is the epitome of the world." 19. wailing—" mourning." costliness—her costly treasures : abstract for concrete, that had sliips A, B, and C read, " that had their ships :" lit., " the ships." 20. holy apostles—So C reads. But A, B, Vulgate, Syriac,
Coptic, and Andheas read, "Ye saints and ye apostles." avenge<l you on tier— Greek, "judged your judgment on (lit., exacting it from) her." "Tltere is more joy In heaven at the harlot's downfall than at that of the two beasts. For the most heinous of all sin is the Bin of those wiio know God"s word of grace, and keep it not. The worldllness of the Church is the most worldly of all worldllness. Hence, Babylon, in Revelation, has not only Israel's sins, but also the sins of the heatlien
3, at the saints' victory over the Ijeast. And—So Andreas. But A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, a,nd Coj>tic omit, a great voice—A, B, C, Vulgate, Coptic, and Andreas read, " as ii were a great voice.'' What a contrast to the lamentations ch. 18.! Cf. Jeremiah 51. -IS. The great manifestation of God's power in destroying Baliyloii calls fortli a greatvoice of praise in heaven, peopleGrecfc, "multitude." Alleluia—//e&?-ei«, "Praise ye Jah," or Jehovah: here first used in Revelation, whence Elliott Inlei-s the Jcu's.hea,r a prominent part in this thanksgiving. Jah is not a contraction of Jehovah, as It sometimes occurs jointly with the lalter. It means " He who is:" whereas Jehovah
and John dwells longer on the abominations and Judgmentsof the harlot than on those of the beast. The term
' harlot' describes the false Church's essential character. She retains her human shape as the woman, does not become a beast: slie has the form of godliness, but denies
its power. Her rightful lord and husband, JehovahChrist, and the joys and goods of His house, are no longer her .ill in all, but she runs after the visible and vain things of the world, in Its manifold forms. The fullest form of her whoredom is, where the Church wislies to be itself a worldly power, uses politics and diplomacy, makes flesh her arm, uses unholj' means for holy ends, spreads her dominion by sword or money, fascinates men
is "He who will be, is, and was." It impUes God experienced as a present help; so that "Hallelujah," says Kimchi in Bengel, Is found flrst In the Psalms on the destruction of the ungodly. " Kallelu-Jali" occurs four times in this passage. Cf. Psalm 119. 4-9, which is plainly par-
allel, and Indeed identical in many of the phrases, as well as the general idea. Israel, especially, will join In the Hallelujah, when "her warfare is accomplished" and her foe destroyed, salvation Greek, " The salvation . ,
by sensual ritualism, becomes ' mistress of ceremonies' to the dignitarleii of the world, flatters prince or people, and like Israel, seeks the help of one world-power against the danger threatening from another." [Auberlen.] Judgment, therefore, begins ivith the harlot, as in privileges the house of God. 21. a.— Greek, "one." millstone—Cf. tlie Judgment on tlie Egyptian liosts at the Red Sea, E;codus
the glory . . . the power." and honour—So Coptic. But A, B, C, and Syriac omit, unto the Lord our God—So Andreas. But .\, B, C, and Coptic read, "(Is) of our God,"
i. e., belongs to Him. 2. witich did corrupt tlie earth— Greek, "used to corrupt" continually. "Instead of opposing and lessening, she promoteil the sinful life and decay of the world by her own earthllness, allowing the salt to lose Its savour." [Auberlen.] awngexl— Greek, "exacted In retribution." A particularapplicallon of the principle (Genesis 9. 5). blootl of liis servants—literally shed by the Old Testament adulterous Church, and by the New Testament apostate Church; also virtually, though not literally, by all who, though called C'hristi.ans, hate their brotlier, or love not the brethren of Christ, but slirink from the reproach of the cross, and show unklndness towjxrds those wlio bear It. .3. ngnin— Greek, "a second time." rose up— ffr(>e/c, "goeth up." for ever and ever— Greek, " to the ages of the ages." 4 . bcHsts—rather, "living creatures." sat Greek, "sitteth." 5. out of— Greek, "out from the throne" In A, B, C. Praise our God—Cf. the solemn act of praise performed by the Levites I Chronicles 16. 36; 2!. 5, especially when the house of God was filled wllh the Divine glory (2 Chronicles 5,
15. 5, 10; Neheinlah 9. U, and the foretold doom of Bal^ylon, the world-power, Jeremi.ah 51. 63, 64. with violence —Greek, "with impetus." This verse shows that this prophecy is regarded as still to be fulfilled. 23. pipers flute-players. "Musicians," painters and sculptors, have desecrated their art to lend fascination to the sensuous worship of corrupt Christendom, craftsman — artisan. 83. What a blessed contrast Is ch. 22. 5, respecting the city of God : " They need no candle (just as Babylon shall no more have the light of a candle, l)Ut for a widely difl'erent reason), for the Lord God giveth them lifjlit." For "candle," imn-vJa/e as Greek, "lamp." ltrl<l«-groom . . . bride
, . . no more ... In thee-Contrast tlie heavenly city, with its Bridegroom, Bride, and blessed marriage-si'pper
(ch. 19. 7, 9; 21. 2, 9; Isaiah 62. 4, 5). thy mercitnnts were —So most of the best authorities read. But A omits the Greek article before "merchants," and then traii.ilntes, "The great men of, &c., were tliy merchants." sorceries Greek, "sorcery." 24. Applied by Christ (.Matthew 23. 3.5) to apostate Jerusalem, which proves that not merely the
13). botii—Omitted In A, B, C, Vulgate, Coptic, and Syriac Translate as Greek, "the small and the great." 0. many waters—Contrast the " many watei s" on whidi the whore
ifteral city Rome, and the Church of Rome (though the chief representative of theapostiisy), but t he wnoj.Kof the faithless Church of both the Old and New Testament Is meant by Bal)ylon the harlot; just as tlie whole Church (Old and New Testament) Is meant by "the woman" (ch.
sittetli (ch. 17. 1). Tills verse is the hearty response to the stirring call "Alleluia! Praise our God," &c.. {v. 4, 5T. the Lord God omiiipoteiit^Orce/c, "the Omnipotent." reighrth lit., reigned: hence reignelh once for all. His reign Is a fact already established. Babylon, the harlot, was one great hindrance to His reign being recognized.
12. 1). As to literal city, Akinghi:s in Bkngel says, P.-igan Rome was the general shambles for slaving the sheep of Jesus. Fbed. Seylek in Be.ngel calculates that I'apal
The Marriage of the Lamb. EEVELATION XIX. The Anyel not to be Worshipped
Her oveitlirow now clears the way foi His advent to reign; therefore, not merely Rome, but the wliole of Christendom in so far as it is carnal and compromised Christ for the world, is comprehended in the term "har-
1. 9. marriage-supper— Cr'i-eci-, " the supper of the mar •
riage." Typified by the Lord's Supper, tnie Greek, "genuine;" veritable sayings which shall surely be ful-
filled, viz., all the previous revelations. 10. at Greek, "before." John's intending to worship the angel here, as in ch. 22. 8, on having revealed to him the glory of the new Jerusalem, is the involuntary impulse of adoring Joy at so blessed a prospect. It forms a marked contrast to the sorrowful liJonder with whicli he had looked on the Church in her apostasy as the harlot (ch. 17. 6). It exemplifies the corrupt tendencies of our fallen nature that even John, an apostle, should have all but fallen into "voluntary liumilitj^ and winshipping of angels," which Paul warns us against, ami of thy brethren—i. e., a fellow-servant of thy brethren, have tJ»e testimony of Jesus (Nole, ch. 12. 17.) the testimony of— i. e., respecting Jesus. Is tlie spirit of proplieey—is tlie result of the same spirit of prophecy in you as in myself. We angels, and you apostles, all alike have the testimony of (bear testimony concerning) Jesus by the operation of one and the same Spirit, who enables me to show you these revelations, and enables you to record them : wherefore we are fellow-servants, not I your lord to be worshipped by you. Cf. ch. 22. 9, "I am fellow-servant of thee and of tliy brethren the prophets;" whence the "fok the testimony," &c., here, may be explained as giving the reason for liis adding "and (fellow-servant) of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus." I mean, of the prophets; "for it
lot." Tlie beast hardly arises when he at once "goetli Into perdition:" so tliat Clirist is prophetically considered as already reigning, so soon does His advent lollow the judgment on the harlot. 7. glad . . . rejoice— GrecA:,
* rejoice . . . exult." give—So B and Andkeas. But A reads, "we will give." s^ory— Greek, "/7ie glory." tl»e marriage of tlie l<a:>ib is come—^The /nil and final consummation is at ch. 21. 2-U, &c. Previously there must be the overthrow of the beast, &c., at the Lord's coining, the binding of Satan, Hie millennial reign, the loosing of Satan, and his last overthrow, and the general judgment. The elect-Church, the heavenly Bride, soon alter tlie destruction of the harlot, is transfigured at the Lord's coining, and joins with Him in His triumph over tiie beast. Qn the emblem of tlie lieavenly Bridegi'oorn and Bride, cf. Matthew 22. 2; 25. 6, 10; 2 Corintliians U. 2. Per-
fect union with Him personally, and participation in His holiness, joy, glory, and kingdom, are included in this symbol of "marriage;" cf. Song of Solomon everywhere. Besides tlie heavenly Bride, the transfigured, translated, and risen Cliurcli, reigning over (lie eai lli with Clirist, there is also the earthly bride, Israel, in llie
flesli, never j'et divorced, though for a time separated, from her Divine husband, who shall then be reunited to the Lord, and be the mother Church of the millennial
is of Jesuji tliat thy bretliren, the prophets, testify by the Spirit iu tliem." A clear condemnation of Romish invocation of saints, as if they were our superiors to bo adored. 11. behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him—Identical with ch. 6. 2. Here as there ho conies forth "conquering and to conquer." Compare the
eartli. Christianized through her. Note, we ouglit, as Bcriplure does, restrict the language drawn irom marriage-love to the Bride, tlie Church as a tuhole, not use it as individuals in our relation to Christ, which Home does iu the case of lier nuns. Individually, believers are elfectUally-caHcd yuests; collectively, they constitute tlic bride. The harlot divides her att'ections among many lovers: the bride gives hers exclusively to Christ. 8. grnnietl Tliough in one sense she " made herself ready," having by the Spirit's work in her put on "the wedding garment," yet in the fullest .sense it is not she, but her Lord, who makes her ready by ^'granting to her that she be arrayed in fine linen." It is He who, by giving Himself for her, presents her to Himself a gloriuus Church, not having spot, tint holy and without blemish. It is He iiltio who sa)ictijies Uer, naturally vile and williout beauty, with tlie waslting of water by the word, and puts Jlis own comeliness on her, which thus becomes hers, clcnii and wliite—So ANnitiiAS. But A, B transpose. 7'raiislate, "Briglit and pure;" at once brilliantly *7J/en(//d and spotless as is the bi iile her-
a,v4-colt on which He rode into Jerusalem. Tiie horse was used for war: and here He is going forth to w!*.' with the beast. The (m is for peace. His riding on it into Jerusalem is an earnest of His reign in Jerusalem over tho earth, as tlio Prince of peace, after all liostlle powers lia've been overthrown. When the security of the worldpower, and the distress of tlie people of God, liave reached
tlie liigliesl point, tiie Lord Jesus shall appear visibly from heaven to put an end to the wiiole course o'f tho world, and establisli His kingdom of glory. He comes to judge Willi vengeance the world-power, and to bring to the Cliurch redemption, trausHguratioii, and power over
tlie world. Uistinguisli between this coming (Matthew 24.
27, 29, 37, 39; Greek parousia) and the end, or final judgment (Matthew 25. 31 ; 1 Corinthimis 15.23). Powerful natural lihenomeiia shall accomi)aiiy His advent. [Auukklen.]
eelf. rl{^l«tcousness Greek, " rigliteousnesses :" distributively used. A'ach saint must have this righteousness: not merely be justified, as If the righteousness belonged to the Chur(4i in the aggregate ; the saints together have righteousnesses; viz.. He is accounted as "the Lord our righteousness" to each .saint on his believing, their robins being made white in the blood of the Lamb. The righteousness of the .saint is not, as Ai^Fouu erroneously stales, inherent, l)Ut la imputed : if it were otherwise, Clirist wouUl be merely enabling the sinner to Justify himself, llonians 5. IS is decisive on this. Cf. Article XI., Church of Kngland. The justification already given to the saints in
I'i. Identilying Him wilh the Son of man similarly described, ch. 1. 14, many crowns Greek, "diadems:" not merely (Greek stephanoi) garlands of victory, but royal crowns, as KfNG or kings. Christ's diadem comprises
all the diadems of tho earth and of heavenly powers
loo. Contrast the Pajial tiara composed of tlireo diadems. Cf. also the little horn (Antichrist) tliat overcomes the three horns or kingdoms, Daniel 7. 8, 24 (Qucere, the I'apacyi or some tliree kingdoms that succeed tho Papacy, which Itself, as a temporal kingdom, was mado up at first of three kingdoms, the i'.\archate of Ravenna, till? kingdom of llie IjOiniiards, and the state of Home, obtained by \'o\m Zachary and Stephen II. from I'epiii, Ihe usurper of the French dominion). Also, the seven crowns (diadems) on the seven /leads of the dragon
title and unseen possession, is now OIVKN them in ninnifestation: they Olieiily walk with Christ in white. To this, rather than to their primary Justification on earth, tlie reference Ib here. Their justitlcation before the apostate world, which had persecuted them, contrasts with the Judgment and condemnation of the harlot. "Now that the harlot has fallen, the woman triumphs." (AuiiiouLEN.J Contrast with tlie pure fine linen (Indlcallng the simplicity and purity) of the bride, t lie tawdi y ornamen-
(<;h. 12. 3), and ten diadems on the ten heads of the beast These usurpers claim Mie diadi'ins which belong to Christ alone, he had a name writtenH and iSyriac insert, " Ho had names written, and a name written," &<•., meaning
\.\uil the names o( the dominion which each diadem Indicated were written on them severally. But A, Vulgait, On to UN, and Cyi-ui an omits the wonls, as English Versiort, name . . . tliat no man knew but . . . himself— (,l udges
tsitlon of the harlot. Babylon, the apostate Chin ch, Is tlio antithesis to new .lerusalem, the Iranstlgured Cluirch of God. The woman (c.li. VI.), the harlot {cli. 17.), the bride
13. IS; 1 Coriiilliiaiis 2.9,11; 1 John 3. '2.) The same is said of the "new name
(ch. 19.), are the tlirci^ leading aspects of thi> Church. U. He—Cod by His saith unlu me. call«-d— ellccl ual ly, not merely externally. The " unto," or " Into," seems tj) express this: not merely Invlteil to (Greek epi), but (tailed INTO, so as to bo partakers of (Greek els), cf. 1 Corinthians
" of iielievers. In this, as in ull other respects, the disciple Is made lllio his Ijord. The
Loj'd's own "new name" Is to ho theirs, and to be "In their foreheads;" whence we uuiy inler lliat His as yel
69(i
Be who Rode upon the While Horse. EEVELATIOX XIX. JAe Fuwk Called to the Great Slaughter.
ten " who " give their power unto the beast." free and bond—specilied In eh. 13. IG, as "receiving the mark of the beast." The repetition of flesh (in the Greek It Is plural : masses offlesh) five times in this verse, marks the gross c«»viaii<.(/ of the followers of the beast. Again, the giving of their flesli to the fowls to eat, is a righteous retribution for their not suffering the dead bodies of Christ's witnesses to be put in graves. I'J. gathered together—at Armageddon, under the sixth vial. ¥or " their armies" in B and Andreas, there is found " His armies" in A. war—So Andreas. But A, B, read, "the war," v/z., that foretold, cli. IG. U ; 17. i. 20. and with him, &c.—A reads, "and those with him." Breads, "and he wlio was with him, the false prophet." miraclesG'cefA, " ilie miracles"
unknown name also is written on His forehead; as the
liigli priest had "Holiness to the Lord" inscribed oh Ihe mitre on his brow. John saw it as "written," but Knew
not its meaning. It is, tlierel'ore, a name which in all its glorious signihcancy can be only understood when the union of His saints with Him, and His and their joint triumpli and rei^n, shall be perfectly maniiesled at Uie final cousumiuatiou. 13. vesture diypftl in blood -Isaiah ().'J. 2 is alluded to here, and in y. 10, end. There the blood is not His own, but that of His foes. So here the blood on His "vesture," reminding us of tlis
otvii blood shed for even the ungodly who trample on it.
Is a premonition of the shedding of Ihuir blood in righteous retribution. He sheds the blood, not of the godly, as
tl.e harlot and beast did, but of the blood-stained ungodly, Including them both. TUe Word of God—who made the world, is He also who under the same character and attributes shall make it anew. His title, Hoii of God, is appli-
(lit., "signs ") recorded already (ch. 13. H) as wrought by the second beast before (lit., in sight of) the first beast. Hence
it follows the second beast is identical with t!ie false prophet. Many expositors represent the first beast to be the secular, the second beast to be the ecclesiastical power of Rome; and account for the change of title for the latter from the "other beast" to the "false prophet," is because by the judgment on the harlot, the ecclesiastical power will then retain nothing of its former character .save the power to deceive. I think it not uhlikely that the false prophet will be the successor of the spiritual pretensions of tlie Papacy; whilst the beast in its last form as the fully-revealed Antichrist will be the secular representativean<l embodimentof the fourth world-kingdom, Rome, in its last form of intensified opposition to God. Cf. with this prophecy, E/.ekiel 38. 39; Daniel 2. 34, 35, 44; U. 44, 45;
cable, in a lower sense, also to His people ; but " the Word Of God" indicates His incommunicable Oodliead, joined
to His manhood, which He shall then manifest in glory. "The Hi ide does n<jt fear the Bridegroom; her love casteth out fear. She welcomes Him; she cannot be happy but at His side The Lamb [v. 9, the aspect of Christ to His people at His coiningj is the symbol of Christ in His gen-
tleness. Who would be afraid of a lamb? Even a little
chihl, Instead of being scaied, desires to caress it. There
Is nothing to make us afraid of God but sin, and Jesus is the Lamb of God that taketh away the uii of the world. What a learful contrast is the aspect whicli He will wear towards His enemits! Not as the Bridegroom and the Lamb, but as the [avenging] judge and warrior stained in the blood of His enemies." 14, tlieariuies ... in licaveii —Cf. "the horse-bridles," ch. H. 20. The glorified saints whom God " will bring with " Christ at His advent; cl. ch.
12. 1 ; Joel 3. 9-17 ; Zechariah 12. ; 13. ; 14. Daniel (7. 8) makes no mention of the second beast, or false prophet, but mentions that " the little horn " has " the eyes of a man,"
i.e., cunning and intellectual culture; thisisnota feature of the first beast in ch. 13., but Is expre.ssed by the Apocalyptic " false prophet," the embodiment of man's unsancl ified knowledge, and the subtlety of the old serpent. The first beast is a political power; the second is a spiritual power—tlie power of ideas. But both are bMsts, the worldly Antichristian wisdom serving t!ie worldly AntiChristian power. The dragon is both lion and serpent. As the first law in God's moral government is that "judgment should begin at the house of God," and be executed on the harlot, the faithless Church, by the world-power with which she had committed spiritual adultery, so itls a second law that the world-power, after having served as God's instrument of punishment, is itself punished. As the harlot is judged by the beast and the ten kings, so these are destroyed by the Lord Himself coming in person. So Zephaniah ch. 1. compared with ch. 2, And Jeremiah, after denouncing Jerusalem's judgment by Babylon, ends with denouncing Babylon's own dyom. Between the judgment on the harlot, and the Lord's destruction of the beast, &c., will intervene that season in which earthly* mindedness will reach its culmination, and Antichrlstianity triumph for its short three and a half days during which the two witnesses lie dead. Then shall the Church be ripe for her glorification, the Antichristian world for destruction. The world at the highest development of its material .and spiritual power, is but a decorated carcass round which the eagles gather. It is characteristic, that Antichristaud his kings, in their blindness, imagine that they can wage war against the King of heaven with earthly hosts; herein is shown the extreme folly of Babylonian confusion. The Lord's mere appearance, without anj' actual encounter, shows Antichrist his nothingness;
17. H, "they that are with Him, called, chosen, laiLlilul ;"
asal.so"His mighty angels." wUile and clean— OretA;, "pure." A, B, Vulyate, Syriac, and Cvpkian omit " and," Which OlUGEX and Andkeas retain, as JEngtish Version.
IS. out of Ills mouHi . . . sword—;Ch. 1. 16; 2. 12, 16.) Here
in its avenginij power, 2 Thessalonians 2. 8, "consume witli the Spirit of His mouth" (Isaiah 11. 4, to which there is allusion here); not in its convicting and converting
efficacy (Epliesians G. 17; Hebrews i. 12, 13, where also the
Judicial keenness of the sword-like word is included). The Father commits the judgment to the Son. lie gliall rule—The He is emphalical. He and none other, in con-
trast to the usurpers who have misruled on earth. "Kule,"
lit., "tend as a shepherd;" but here in a punitive sense. He who would have shepherded them with pastoral rod and with the golden sceptre of His love, shall dash them
in pieces, as refractory rebels, with "a rod of iron." treadetli . . . wSne-press—(Isaiah iii. 3.) of the fierceness and wratU—So Andkeas reads. But A, B, Vulgate,
Coptic, and Okigen read, " of the fierceness (or Imdiiig in-
dignation) of the wrath," omitting "and." AlnUgUty— The fierceness of Christ's wrath against His foes will be executed with the resources of omnipotence. IG. " His name written on His vesture and on His thigli," was written partly on the vesture, partly on the tliigh itself, at the part where in an equestrian figure the robe drops from the thigh. The thigh symbolizes Christ's humanity as having come, after the flesh, from the loins of David, and now appearing as the glorified "Son of man." On the other hand. His incommunicable Divine name, "which no man knew," is on His head (i). 12). [MenoCHius.] King of kings; cf. ch. 17. If, in contrast wiili v.
cf. the effect of Jesus' appearance even in His humiliation, John 18. 6. [Aubeklen.] had recelvefl—rather aa Greek, "received," once for all. them that worshipped
17j the beast being iu attempted usurpation a king of kings, the ten kingsdeliveriug their kingdom to him. 17. an Gi-eek, "one." lit the sun—so as to be conspicuous In sight of the whole world, to all tlie fowls—(Ezekiol
lit., "them worshipping;" not an act once for all done, as the "received" implies, but those i?i the habit of "worshipping." These both were cast . . . Into a lake —
89. I7-2U.) and gather yourselves—A, B, Vulgate, tiyriac,
Greek, "... the lake of fire," Gehenna. Satan is subsequently cast into it, at the close of the outbreak which succeeds the millennium (ch. 20. 10). Then Death and Hell, as well those not found at the general judgment "written in the book of life ;" this constitutes "the second death." alive—a living death; uot mere anuihllatioit.
Coptic, and Andreas read," be gathered," omitting "and." of the great God—A, B, Vulgate, ISyriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "T^le great supper (i. e., banquet) of God."
18. Contrast with this "supper," v. 17, 18, the marriagetapper of the Lamb, v. 9. captainsCrVee/c, "captains of
tiioasauds," i. e., chit^ captains. The "kings" are "the
Satan Bound/or a Thousand Years, REVELATION XX. and Cast into the Bultomless PiL
mission. A tradition in the house of Ellas, a. d. 200, states that the world is to endure 6000 years ; 2000 before the law, 2000 under the law, and 2000 under Messiah. Cf. Note and Margin, Hebrews 4. 9 ; ch. 14. 13. Papi as, Justin Martyr, Iren^eus, and Cyprian, among the earliest Fathers, all held the doctrine of a millennial kingdom on earth ; not
"Their worm dieth not, their fire Is not qiienclied." 21. the remnant Greek, "the rest," i.e., "the kings niiil their armies " (u. 19) classed together in one indiscriminate mass. A solemn conflrmalioii of the wai uing in Psalm 2. 10.
till millennial views degenerated into gross cariialism was this doctrine abandoned, that he should deceiveSo A. But B reads, "that he deceive" (Greek plana, for planeesee). and—So CojMc and Andreas. But A, B, and Vulgate omit "and." 4, 5. they sat—tlie twelve apostles, and the saints in general, judgment was given unto them — (A'o^e, Daniel 7. '22.) The office of judging was given to them. Though in one sense having to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yet in another sense they "do not come into judgment {Grcek),hnt have already passed from death unto life." souls—This term is made a plea for denying the literality of the first resurrection, as if the resurrection were tlie spiritual one of the souls of believers in tliis life; the life and reign being that of the soul raised in this life from the death of sin by vivifying faith. But "souls" expresses their disembodied state
Ver. 1-15. Satan Bound, and the Fihst-kisen Saints Reign with Christ, a Thousand Years; Satan Loosed Gathers the Nations, Gog and Magog, round THE Camp of the Saints, and is finally Consigned
I'O the Lake of Fire; The General Rksuruisction AND Last Judgment. 1. The destruclion of liis representatives, tlie beast and the false prophet, to wliom he had given his poruer, throne, a.n<\ aulhorily, is followed by the binding of Satan himself for a thousand years, tlie key of the bottomless pit—now transferred from Satan's hands, wlio had heretofore been permitted by God to use
it in letting ioose plagues on the earth; he is now to be made to feel himself the torment wliich he had inflicted on men but h'is full torment is not until he is cast into "the lake of tire"' (v. 10). 2. the old—ancient serpent (ch.
12.9). thousand years—As seven mystically implies universality, so a, Ihoxtsand implies perfection, whether in good or evil. [Aquinas on ch. 11.] Thousand symbolizes that the world Is perfectly leavened and pervaded by the Divine; since thomand is ten, the number of the world, raised to the third power, three being the number of God. [Auberlen.] It may denote literally also a thousimd years. 3. shut hlin—A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Andreas omit "him." set a seal upon hUu Oreel:, " over l\\m,"
(cf. ch. 6. 9) .as John saw them at tlrst; "and tliey lived" implies their coming to life in the body again, so as to bo visible, as the phrase, v. 5, "this is the first resurrection," proves; for as surely as "the rest of the dead lived not (again) until," &e., refers to the 6o(Zi7^ general resurrection, so must the first resurrection refer to the body. This also accords with 1 Corinthians 15.23, "They that are Christ's at His coming." Cf. Psalm 49. 11-15. From ch. 6.
9, I infer that "souls" is here used in tlie strict sense of spirits disembodied when first seen by John ; though doubtless "souls"' is often used in general (or persons, and even for dead bodies, beheaded—ii/., "smitten witli an axe;" a Roman punishment, tliough crucifi.xion, casting to beasts, and burning, were the more common modes of execution. The guillotine in revolutionary France, still continued In imperial France, is a revival of the mode of capital punishment of Pagan imperial Rome. Paul was beheaded, and no doubt sliall share the first resurrection, in accordance with his prayer that he "might attain unto the resurrection from out of the rest of tlie dead" {Greek exanas-
i. e., sealed up the door of tlie abyss over his head. A surer seal to keep him from getting out than his seal over Jesus in tlie tomb of Joseph, whicli was burst on the resurrection morn. Satan's binding at this juncture is not arl)itrary, but is the necessary consequence of the events (ch. 1!». 20) ; just as Satan's being cast out of heaven, where he had previously been the accuser of the brethren, was the legil mate judgment which passed on him through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ
(ch. 12. 7-lU) Satan imagined th.at he had overcome Christ on Golgotha, and that his power was secure for ever, but the Lord in death overcame him, and by His ascension as our righteous Advocate cast out Satan the accuser from heaven. Time was given him on earth to make tlie beast and harlot powerful, and then to concentrate all his power in Antichrist. The Anliclnistian kingdom, his last effort, being utterly destroyed by Christ's mere appearing, his power on earth is at an end. He had thought to destroy God's people on earth tiy Antichrlstian persecutions (Just as lie had thought previously to destroy Christ); but the Cliurch is not di'Slroyed from the earth, but is raised to rule over it, and Satan himself
tasis). The above facts may account for the specificatioa of this particular kind of punishment, for . . . for— Greek, " for the sake of ;" " on account of;"' " because of." and whieh Greek, "and the which:" And prominent among tliis class (the beheaded), such as did not worship the beast, &e. So ch. 1. 7, (Trcek, "and the which," or " and such as," particularizes prominently among tlie general class those that follow in the description. [Tukoelles.] Tlie extent of tiio first resurrection is not spoken of here. In 1 Corinthians 15. 23, 51 ; 1 Tbessalonlans 1. 14 wo find tliat