Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
The Opening of the Seventh Seal. REVELATION VIII. Four Angels Sound their 'lYumpets.
truth, besides what is expressed, viz., His being their covert. When once He tabernacled among us as tfie Word made flesh, He was in great lowliness ; then He shall be In great glory. 16. (Isaiah 49. 10# kimger uo more as they did here. tUirst any more—(John 4. 13.) tlie gun —literally, scorching in the East. Also, symbolically, the un zt persecution, neither . . . light Greek, " by no taeans at all . . . light" (fall), &c. heat—as the sirocco, 17. in tlie midst of tlie throne—t. e., in the middle point la front of tlie throne (ch. 5. 6). teed— Greek, "tend as a shepherd." living fountains of water—A, B. Vulgale, and Cypkian read, (eternal) ''life's fountains of waters."
which alone have Woe, woe, woe (v. 7-13). 3. anothei angel—not Christ, as many think; for He, in lievelatiou, is always designated by one of His proper titles; tliongh, doubtless. He is the only true High Priest, the Angel of the Covenant, standing before the golden altar of incense, and there, as Mediator, offering up His people's prayers, rendered acceptable before God through the incense of His merit. Here the angel acts merely as a ministering «pm<. Just as the twenty-four elders have vials full of odours, or incense, which are the prayers of saints, and which they present before the Lamb. How precisely their ministry, in perfuming the prayers of the saints and oflering them on the altar of Incense, is exercised, we know not, but we do know they are not to be prayed to. If we send an offering of tribute to the king, the king's messenger is not allowed to appropriate what is due to the king alone, tliere was given unto him—The angel does not provide the incense; it isgiven to him by Christ, whose meritorious obedience aud death are the incense, rendering the saints' prayers well pleasing to God. It is not the saints who give the angel the Incense; nor are their prayers identified with the incense; nor do they offer their prayers to him. Christ alone is the Mediator through whom, and to whom, prayer is to be offered, offer it witli tlie prayers—rather as Greek, "give it to the prayers," so rendering them efficacious as a sweet-smelling savour to God. Christ's merits alone can thus incense our prayers, though the angelic ministi-y be employed to attach tliis incense to the prayers. The saints' praying on earth, and the angel's incensing in heaven, are simultaneous, all saints —The prayers both of the saints in the heavenlj' rest, and of those militant on earth. The martyrs' cry is the foremost, and brings down the ensuing judgments, golden altar—Antitype to the earthly. 4. the smoke . . . wl Uch came with the prayers . . . ascended up—rather, " the smoke of the incense for (or given To: 'given' being understood from v. 3) the prayers of the saints aseeiided up, out of the angel's hand, in the presence of God." The angel merely burns the incense given him by Christ the High Priest, so that its smoke blends with the ascending prayers of the saints. The saints themselves are priests; andithe angels in this priestly ministi ation are bwl their fellow-servants (ch. 19. 10). 5. cast it into the earth i. e., unto the earth: the hot coals off the altar cast on the earth, symbolize God's fiery judgments about to descend! on the Church's foes in answer to the saints' incense-per-- fumed prayers which have just ascended betbre God, andt those of the martyrs. How marvellous the power of the saints' prayers! there were— "there took place," or "ensued." voices . . . thunderings, &c.—B places the- " voices " after "thunderings." A places it after "lightnings." 6. sound—blow the trumpets. 7. The common feature of the first four trumpets is, the judgments liiider' them af Tect natural objects, the accessories of life, the earth,
Living" is not supported by the old authorities.
CHAPTER VIII.
. 1-13. Seventh Seal. Preparation for the SKvtN Trumfet.s. The First Four and the consequent Plagues. 1. was— Greek, " c&me to pass;" "began to be." silence in lieaven about . . . lialf an liour —The last seal having been broken open, tlie book of God's eternal plan of redemption is opened for the Lamb to read to the blessed ones in heaven. The half hour's «iewce contrasts with the previous jubilant songs of the great multitude, taken up by the angels (ch. 7. 9-U). It is the Golemn introduction to the employments and enjoyments of the eternal Sabbath-rest of the people of God, commencing with the Lamb's reading the book heretofore sealed up, and which we cannot know till then. In ch.
10. 4, similarly at the eve of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the seven thunders uttered their voices, John is forbidden to write thera. The seventh trumpet (ch. 11. 15-19) winds up God's vast plan of providence and grace In redemption, just as the seventh seal brings it to the same consummation. So also the seventh vial.ch. 16;
17. Not that the seven seals, the seven trumpets, aud the seven vials, though parallel, are repetitions. Tliey each trace t)ie course of Divine action up to the grand consummation in which they all meet, under a dit Terent aspect.
Thunders, lightnings, an earthquake, and voices, close the seven thunders and the seven seals alike (cf. ch. S. 5, with ch. 11. 19). Cf. at the seventh vial, the voices, tliunders, lightnings, and earthquake, ch. 16. 18. The half-hour silence
Is the brief pause given to John between the preceding vision and the following one, implying, on the one hand, the solemn introduction to the eternal sabbntism which is to follow the seventh seal; and, on the other, the silence which continued during the iucense-accompauied praj'ers which usher in the first of the seven trumpets (ch. 8.
3-5). In the Jewish temple, musical instruments and singing resounded during the whole time of tlie offering of the sacrifices, which formed the first part of the service. But at the offering of incense, solemn silence was kept (Psalm 62.1, "My soul waiteth upon God," Margin, "is silent;" 65. I, Margin), the people praying secretly all the time. The half-hour stillness implies, too, the earnest adoring expectation with which the blessed spirits and the angels await the succeeding unfolding of God's judgments. A short space is Implied ; for even an hour is so used (ch. 17. 12 ; 18. 10, 19). a. the seven angels—Cf. the apocryphal Tobit, 12. 15, "I am Raphael, one of tlie seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One."
trees, grass, the sea, rivers, fountains, the liglit of the sun,, moon and stars. The last three, the woe-trumpets (v. 13),. affect men's life with pain, death, and hell. The language
Is evidently drawn from the plagues of Egypt, five or six. out of the ten exactly corresponding: the hail, the fire (Exodus 9. 24), the water turned to blood (E.xodus 7. 19), the darkness (Exodus 10. 21), the locusts (Exodus 10. 12), and per/-- haps the death (ch. 9. 18). Judicial retribution in kind; characterizes the inflictions of the first lour, those ele-- ments which had been abused punishing their abusers, mingled with—A, B, and Vulgate, read, Greek, . . . INblood." So in the case of the second and third vials (cli,
Cf. Luke 1. 19, "I am Gabriel, that stan<l in the presence of God." stood Greek, "at&nd." seven trumpets—These come in during the time whilst the martyrs re.\t until their fellow-servants also, lluit should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled; for It is the inhabitcrs of the earth on whom the
16. 3, 4). upon the earth— (JreeA:, " unto the earth." A, B, Vulgate, aud Syriac add, " And the third of the earth wasburnt up." So under the third trumpet, the third of the judgments fall, on whom also the martyrs prayed that tUey should fall (ch. 6. 10). All the ungo<lly, and not merely some one portion of them, are meant, all the opponents and obstacles In the way of the kingdom of Christ and His saints, as Is proved by ch. 11. 15, 18, eml, at the close of the seven trumpets. The Revelation becomes more special only as It advances farther (ch. 13. ; 16. 10; rivers is affected : also, under t.hesixth trumpet Uie thitdpart of men are killed. In Zechariah 13. S, 0 this tripartite division appears, but the proportions reversed, two parts killed, only a third preserved. Here, rice versa, twothirds escape, one-third is smitten. The fire was the predominant element, all green grass—no longer a thinlv but all is burnt up. 8. as it were—not literally a moun-.
17.; 18). By the seven trumpets the world-kingdoms are overturned to make way for Christ's universal kingdom. The first four are connected together; aud the last three, tain: a mountain-like burning mass. There is a plain allusion to Jeremiah 51. 25; Amos 7..4. . third part of the