Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation

AND there was given me a [329]reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and [330]measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

and which were to embrace the whole of the period comprised in the seven seals and the seven trumpets. Under the last of the seals we have considered four successive periods, re...

1. _And when he had opened the seventh seal._ See Notes on ch. v. 1. ¶ _There was silence in heaven._ The whole scene of the vision is laid in heaven (ch. iv.), and John represe...

1. _And he showed me a pure river of water of life._ In the New Jerusalem; the happy abode of the redeemed. The phrase “water of life,” means _living_ or _running_ water, like a...

AND after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the [239]four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on...

received its name from it (Mela, i. 17, 3), at the mouth of the small river Meles, 320 stadia, or about forty miles north of Ephesus (Strabo, xv. p. 632). It was a very ancient...

AND I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven[474] angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

AND I saw when [214]the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

“King of kings.” No language could more sublimely denote his exalted character, or his supremacy. Kings and princes sway a sceptre over the millions of the earth, and the exalta...

solemn thought in view of the fact that he is to pronounce on our character, and to determine our destiny. ¶ _He that hath the key of David._ This expression is manifestly taken...

administration was to be one of intelligence and uprightness. The gift of a Bible now to a monarch when he is crowned, or to the officer of a corporation or society, denotes the...

AND there appeared a great [373]wonder in heaven; a [374]woman clothed with the [375]sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

title of Augustus (_Decline and Fall_, i. 222). Of his administration in general Mr. Gibbon (i. 226) remarks: “About that time the avarice of Galerius, or perhaps the exigencies...

{419} 1. _And I saw an angel come down from heaven._ Comp. Notes on ch. x. 1. He does not say whether _this_ angel had appeared to him before, but the impression is rather that...

AND there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the [511]great whore tha...

AND I looked, and, lo, a [425]Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him [426]an hundred forty _and_ four thousand, [427]having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

1. _And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne._ Of God, ch. iv. 3, 4. His _form_ is not described there, nor is there any intimation of it here except the mentio...

AFTER this I looked, and, behold, a door _was_ opened in heaven; and the first [175]voice which I heard _was_ as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, [176]Come up h...

1. _And after these things._ After the vision referred to in the previous chapter. ¶ _I saw another angel come down from heaven._ Different from the one that had last appeared,...

3. These views receive some confirmation from a passage in Theodoret, “who spoke of Cerinthus in such a way as seems to imply that he had forged an Apocalypse for the promotion...

UNTO the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith [94]he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

(Lu. ix. 54), _as if_ fire were called down on them from heaven. The phrase “in the sight of men” implies that this would be done publicly, and is such language as would be used...

AND I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a [395]beast rise up out of the sea, [396]having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the [...

1. _And the fifth angel sounded._ See Notes on ch. viii. 6, 7. ¶ _And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth._ This denotes, as was shown in the Notes on ch. viii. 10, a l...

1. _And I saw a new heaven and a new earth._ Such a heaven and earth that they might properly be called _new_; such transformations, and such changes in their appearance, that t...

AND after these things I heard a [575]great voice of much people in heaven, saying, [576]Alleluia; [577]Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

ch. xxxviii. 8‒12. It is commonly supposed that they were _Scythians_, residing between the Caspian and Euxine Seas, or in the region of Mount Caucasus. Thus Josephus (_Ant._ i....

THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified _it_ by his angel unto his s...

will illustrate this:――“During this interview [an interview between Cortes and the ambassadors of Montezuma], some painters in the train of the Mexican chiefs had been diligentl...

Pharaoh-Necho, 2 Ki. xxiii. 29, 30; 2 Ch. xxxv. 20‒25. From the great mourning held for his loss, it became proverbial to speak of any grievous mourning as being “like the mourn...

This chapter contains an account of the opening of six of the seven seals. It need hardly be said to anyone who is at all familiar with the numerous――not to say numberless――expo...

1. _And I saw another sign in heaven._ Another wonder or extraordinary symbol. The word _sign_ here――σημεῖον――is the same which in ch. xii. 1, 3; xiii. 13, is rendered _wonder_...

Hierapolis. But there may have been nothing in their circumstances that demanded particular instruction or admonition, and they may have been on that account omitted. There is a...

AND unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the [140]seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; [141]I know thy works, that thou hast [142]...

by desolations of this kind. Thus, in more modern times, it has been common to carry the desolations of war into gardens, orchards, and vineyards. In the single province of Uppe...

This portion of the book commences, according to the view presented in the closing remarks on the last chapter, a new series of visions, designed more particularly to represent...

One seal of the mysterious roll (ch. v. 1) remains to be broken――six having already disclosed the contents of the volume relating to the future. It was natural that the opening...

This chapter, like chapters xvi. 12‒21, xvii., xviii., xix., pertains to the future, and discloses things which are yet to occur. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, for the...

This chapter is closely connected with ch. xii., which is properly introductory to this and to the subsequent portions of the book to ch. xx. See the Analysis of the Book. The v...

These considerations are sufficient to show, that the common opinion, that the visions were seen in the island of Patmos, has every probability in its favour, and should be rece...

now sees _another_ angel, different from them, and apparently having no connection with them, coming from heaven to accomplish some important purpose before the seventh angel sh...

This chapter contains the record of a sublime vision of an angel which, at this juncture, John saw descending from heaven, disclosing new scenes in what was yet to occur. The vi...

The state of things represented in this chapter is, that where there had been awful consternation and alarm, as if the end of the world were coming, and where the signs of the a...

The whole of ch. xxi., and the first five verses of ch. xxii., relate to scenes beyond the judgment, and are descriptive of the happy and triumphant state of the redeemed church...

The contents of the epistle to the church at Sardis (ver. 1‒6) are: (1) The usual salutation to the angel of the church, ver. 1. (2) The usual reference to the attributes of the...

I. The announcement that the object of the book is to record a revelation which the Lord Jesus Christ had made of important events which were shortly to occur, and which were si...

This chapter introduces the disclosure of future events. It is done in a manner eminently fitted to impress the mind with a sense of the importance of the revelations about to b...

This chapter comprises four of the seven epistles addressed to the seven churches; those addressed to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira. A particular view of the contents...

the very appellation here used by John: “Sabeans from the wilderness, which put beautiful _crowns_ upon their heads.” So in the preface to _Antar_, it is said, “It was a usual s...

This chapter, which is very improperly separated from the preceding, and improperly _ended_――for it should have been closed at ver. 18――consists (excluding the last verse, which...

In the previous chapters (xii. xiii.) there is a description of the woes and sorrows which, for a long period, would come upon the church, and which would threaten to destroy it...

The book itself purports (chap. i. 9) to have been written in the island of Patmos, where the writer says he was “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ;” th...

This chapter properly commences a more detailed description of the judgment inflicted on the formidable Antichristian power referred to in the last chapter, though under a new i...

The three remaining trumpets (ch. ix.‒xi.) are usually called the _woe-trumpets_, in reference to the proclamation of woes, ch. viii. 13 (Professor Stuart). The three extend, as...

The previous chapter had described the preparation for the last plagues that were to come upon that mighty Antichristian power to which this series of prophetic visions refers....

This chapter, as well as the last, is an episode, delaying the final catastrophe, and describing more fully the effect of the destruction of the mystical Babylon. The chapter co...

This chapter may be regarded as a still further _explanatory episode_ (comp. Anal. to ch. xvii.), designed to show the _effect_ of pouring out the seventh vial (ch. xvi. 17‒21)...

This chapter has a close connection in design with the previous chapter. In that, pledges and assurances had been given that all the enemies of religion would be cut off, and th...

These considerations show with what propriety the fifth trumpet――the symbol of the locusts――is referred to the Arabian hordes under the guidance of Mahomet and his successors. O...

For the analysis of the first five verses of this chapter, see the Analysis of ch. xxi. The chapter comprises the remainder of the description of the “New Jerusalem”――the blesse...

AND I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a [317]rainbow _was_ upon his head, and [318]his face _was_ as it were the sun, and his feet as p...