AUTHORIZED VERSION. AUTHORIZED VERSION REVISED. Write, Blessed are they he saith unto me, Write, P Blessed P Matt. xxii. 2, which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true say ings of God. 10 And I fell are they which are called unto the 3. Luke xiv. 15, 16. xxii. 6. These are the q ch. xxi. 5. & 10 And I fell r ch. xxii. 8. I And he at his feet to worship him. brethren that have the tes timony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of pro phecy. And I saw heaven S Acts x. 20. & ch. xxii. 9. xiv. 14, 15. John v. 10. ch. xii. 17. of thy brethren that have the tes- their blessedness, and an assurance of the certainty of that which has been foretold respecting them. The Apostle, moved by these declarations, falls down to worship the angel, but is forbidden.—And he saith (who? the only answer ready to our hand is, the angel of ch. xvii. 1. Some, as Ewald and Ebrard, suppose some one angel to have been constantly with St. John throughout the visions: but there seems no reason for this) unto me, Write (see ch. xiv. 13) Blessed are they who are bidden (bear in mind, throughout, our Lord's parables on this matter: Matt. xxii. 1 ff., xxv. 1 ff. Our ch. iii. 20 furnishes us with a link binding on the spiritual import to the figure) to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And he saith to me (the solemn repetition of this formula shews that what follows it is a new and important declaration), These [sayings] (see ch. xvii. 17. If we understand that the speaker is the angel of ch. xvii. 1, then these sayings will most naturally include the prophecies and revelations since then) are the true [sayings] of God (are the very truth of God, and shall veritably come to pass). And I fell down before his feet to worship him (out of an overweening reverence for one who had imparted to him such great things: see also ch. xxii. 8, where the same again takes place at the end of the whole revelation, and after a similar assurance. The angel who had thus guaranteed to him, in the name of God, the certainty of these great revelations, seems to him worthy of some of that reverence which belongs to God Himself. The reason given by Düsterdieck, that in both cases John imagined the Lord Himself to be speaking to him, is sufficiently contra dicted by the plain assertion, here in ch. xvii. 1, and there in ch. xxii. 8 itself, that it was not a divine Person, but simply an angel): and he saith to me, Take heed not (to do it): I am a fellow-servant of thine, and [a fellow-servant] of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus (as in ch. i. 2, xii. 17: on the former of which see note): worship God (the stress is on both words: let worship be reserved for Him), for (these words following are those of the angel, not of the Apostle, as Düsterdieck: ver. 8, and ch. v. 8, where the Apostle gives explanations, are no rule for this place, where the explanation of necessity comes from the speaker, whose reason for prohibiting the offered homage it renders) the testimony of Jesus (the genitive of Jesus is, as before, objective: the testimony borne to Jesus by these fellow-servants, men and angels) is the spirit of prophecy (there is no real difficulty in this saying: no reason for destroying its force by making "of Jesus" subjective, and "the testimony of Jesus" to mean "the witness which proceeds from Jesus." What the angel says is this: Thou and I and our brethren are all "those who have the testimony of Jesus," i. e. are witnesses to Jesus; and the way in which we bear this witness, the substance and essence of this testimony, is the spirit of prophecy; "we have all been made to drink into one Spirit." This Spirit, given to me in that I shew thee these things, given to thee in that thou seest and art to write them, is the token that we are fellow-servants and brethren. It does not follow that every one of those "who have the testimony of Jesus" has, in the same distinguished degree, the Spirit of prophecy but every such one are omitted by some of our MSS. d Isa. lxiii. 2,3. 13 d and clothed with a vesture dip-dipped in blood: and his e John i. 1. 1 John v. 7. fch. xiv. 20. name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven fol ped in blood and his name is called has the same Spirit, and that one Spirit, and no other, is the Spirit of prophecy). 11-XXII. 5.] THE END: beginning with the triumphal coming forth of the Lord and His saints to victory (vv. 11-16), then proceeding with the great defeat and destruction of the beast and false prophet and kings of the earth (vv. 17-21), the binding of Satan and the millennial reign (ch. xx. 1-6), the unbinding of Satan and his destruction and that of the deceived nations (xx. 7—10), the great general judgment (xx. 11-15), and terminating with the vision of the new heavens and earth, and the glories of the new Jerusalem (xxi. 1–xxii. 5). 11-16.] The triumphal coming forth of the Lord and His hosts to victory. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse (the same words, including the five following, as in ch. vi. 2. It is wonderful that this striking identity, in a book where symbolism is so constant to itself, has not prevented the mistakes which have been made in interpreting that place. This horse and Rider are the same as there: the "conquering and to conquer" is on the point of its completion: the other horses and their riders, dark forms in His great world-long procession to victory, will now for ever vanish, and war and famine and pestilence be known no more), and He that sitteth upon him [called] faithful and true (see ch. iii. 14), and in righteousness He judgeth and warreth (both those acts being his concern in his present triumphant progress). His eyes [were as] a flame of fire (ch. i. 14 verbatim, again beyond question identifying Him), and upon His head many diadems (probably white as He is King of Kings. Certainly these are not the crowns of the ten kings, as some say, for they are yet to be overthrown, ver. 19 ff. The crown of ch. vi. 2 has become multiplied in the course of the subjection of the world to Him): having names written (if these words are genuine, probably the meaning is that the names were inscribed on the diadems, signifying the import of each), and] a name written (where, is not said. From this portion of the description regarding His Head, probably on the Brow) which none knoweth except Himself (what name is indicated? Certainly not that given below, ver. 13; nor can these words mean that He Himself alone knows the mystery latent in that name. Nor again can we say that it is any of the names by which our blessed Lord is known to us already. But it is my new name" of ch. iii. 12: some new and glorious name, indicative, as appears from the context there, of the completed union between Him and His people, and of His final triumph. This name the Apostle saw written, but knew not its import: that, like the contents of the sealed book, being reserved for the day when He shall reveal it): and clothed in a vesture dipped in blood (see Isa. lxiii. 2, 3: which is clearly in contemplation here, from our ver. 15 b. This being so, it is better perhaps to avoid the idea of His own blood being in view): and His name is called, The Word of God (this title forms so plain a link between the Apocalypse and St. John's writings, where only it occurs, that various attempts have been made by those who reject his authorship, to deprive it of that significance. I have discussed these AUTHORIZED VERSION. h AUTHORIZED VERSION REVISED. 15 And g 3. ch. iv. 4. & vii. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 8. horses, clothed in fine him upon white horses, & clothed in 8 Matt. xxviii. linen, white and clean. fine linen, white and 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ch. ii. 27. k Isa. Ixiii. 3. ch. xiv. 19, pure. out of his mouth goeth a sharp h sword, that with it he may smite the nations: and he shall rule them i Ps. ii. 9. with a rod of iron: and he him-xii. 5. self treadeth the winepress of the fierceness † of the wrath of Almighty 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a God. 16 And he hath on his ves- 1 ver. 12. name written, KING OF ture and on his thigh a name written, m KING OF KINGS, AND m Dan. ii. 47. KINGS, AND LORD the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and n 20. + So all our ancient MSS. 1 Tim. vi. 15. ch. xvii. 14. 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying " to all the fowls n ver. 21. gather yourselves together that fly in mid-heaven, Come, Ezek. xxxix. unto the supper of the great God; gather yourselves together unto the may eat the flesh of kings, † great banquet of God: 18 P that + So all our ye may eat the flesh of kings, and 13. 18 that ye in the Introduction, § i. parr. 110, 111). And the armies which are in heaven (not the holy angels only, but the glorified saints: "they that are with Him" of ch. xvii. 14, who are spoken of in reference to this very triumph, and are said to be "called and chosen and faithful") followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen [raiment], white, pure (this clothing also speaks for the saints being included in the triumphal procession see ver. 8, and ch. vi. 11). And out of His mouth goeth forth a sharp sword (see ch. i. 16, ii. 12, 16), that with (as invested in or with) it He may smite the nations; and He (there is an emphasis in this and the following clause on the word He, which however would be too strongly rendered by "himself") shall rule (see ch. ii. 27, xii. 5, and note) them (their component members) with a rod of iron: and He (and none other, as we know from Isa. lxiii. 3) treadeth (it is His office to tread) the winepress of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath (of the outbreaking of the anger: see on ch. xvi. 19) of Almighty God. And He hath upon His vesture and upon His thigh a name written (i.e. most naturally, written at length, partly on the vesture, partly on the thigh itself; at the part where, in an equestrian figure, the robe drops from the 17. ancient MSS. p Ezek. xxxix. thigh. The usual way of taking the words is to suppose the and explanatory or definitive of the former words, "on His vesture," and that on the part of it covering His thigh. Others imagine a sword, on the hilt of which the name is inscribed. But there is no trace of this in the text. Cicero describes "a beautiful figure of Apollo, on whose thigh was inscribed in small silver letters the name of the artist, Myro:" and Pausanias speaks of the dedicatory inscription of a statue being engraved on its thigh), King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (ch. xvii. 14). 17-21.] Defeat and destruction of the beast and the false prophet and the kings of the earth: preceded by (17, 18) an angelic proclamation, indicating the vastness of the slaughter. And I saw an (literally, one) angel standing in the sun (not only as the place of brightness and glory becoming the herald of so great a victory, but also as the central station in mid-heaven for those to whom the call was to be made): and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, Come, be gathered together (see, on the whole of this proclamation, Ezek. xxxix. 17 ff., of which it is a close reproduction also Matt. xxiv. 28) to the great banquet of God, that ye may eat the q ch. xvi. 16. AUTHORIZED VERSION REVISED. the flesh of captains of thousands, beast, and the kings of the earth, andrine MS. here ficient). In him, with which he deceived (the Parisian false prophet that wrought the mira-wrought miracles before reading is t ch. xx. 10. & xxi. 8. x ver. 15. worshipped his image: 8 t them that these two u ch. xiv. 10. which u burneth with brimstone. y ver. 17, 18. flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains mark of the beast, and cast alive into a lake of those with him (to wit, the false prophet, AUTHORIZED VERSION. AUTHORIZED VERSION REVISED. and all the fowls were the fowls were filled with their z ch. xvii. 10. XX. And I saw an of the bottomless pit and flesh. XX. 1 And I saw an angel coming a ix. 1. heaven, having the key down out of heaven, having the ach. i. 18. & b a great chain in his hand. season. saw с See 2 Pet. H. the dragon, the old serpent, which bch. xii,;. sitteth on the horse, which (sword) goeth CH. XX. 1-10.] THE VICTORY OVER e 16. ver. 8. thrones, and e Dan. vii. ?, 22, 27. And I saw an angel coming down out This key had been for the 4-6.] The Millennial reign. And I |