Revelation 6–19

The scene now changes from heaven to earth, and we see the Lamb in His power and in His wrath, carrying out judgment. He had redeemed His saints by blood; now He redeems the inheritance by power. It is the Lamb who opens the seals, and judgment at once takes its course (Rev. 6:1).

The hour may be near when the Lamb will open the seals, and the judgments break out one after another on the earth, like the plagues on guilty Egypt. They are providential judgments — famines, wars, diseases, and death. They fall on this world as the seals are opened in order. But notice that the Lamb does not carry out these judgments in person. He opens the seals, and the judgments follow.

Through this long gospel day He has been the expression of the grace of God. Now He is in the very centre of the throne, the One who unfolds the judgments. His voice is like thunder, not now the soft sweet whisper of mercy. The four living creatures command the judgments to start. The unfolding of these seals simply shows us the exact order of the providential judgments that will take place after the Church is removed.

Should we have here, and after the other three horses, the words "and see"? They seem to be missing from the best text in all these passages. In every case the sentence ought to be simply "Come." The difference comes to this. "Come and see" would be spoken to John. But according to the better manuscripts, the living creature says "Come" to the rider on the horse. That clearly makes a considerable difference.

If we keep the words, they make it a call to John to "come and see." But why speak to John in a voice of thunder? If we drop them, the "Come" becomes a summons to the human instrument used in these punishments on earth.

The important point to notice is that the white horse comes out on earth because the Lamb opens the seal in heaven. The rider might be acting from his own will alone, but here we see the source of his activity. He might know nothing of it, yet he is still the instrument of the divine will.

As Christians we have the mind of Christ, that is, the power to discern. So we look behind the bare course of events and trace it all to the unseen source, God Himself. The living creatures, who carry out the will of the throne, call one after another on the human instruments of vengeance to do the task God has given them. They cannot move in judgment until the throne summons them. What strength this gives the heart in days of evil!

The living creatures are emblems of the attributes of God as shown in creation, and they are seen in heaven beside the throne — a throne from which judgment is carried out. If that is so, we are clearly standing on the ground of "the providential course of God's dealings." They are dealings in judgment, remember, by which He is about to make good His character in government on the earth… These complete the providential plagues spoken of in Scripture. Then direct judgments follow. These are what we may call preparatory measures.

The important point to notice is that the coming forth of the white horse on earth is the result of the Lamb opening the seal in heaven. The rider might be acting entirely from his own will, but here we are allowed to see the source of his activity. He might be completely unaware of it, but he is no less the instrument of the divine will. Lust of conquest might be his only motive, just as it was with Nebuchadnezzar long ago. Only God in His infinite wisdom knows how to make the wrath of man praise Him as He accomplishes His purposes.

No doubt Christ later comes from heaven on a white horse (Revelation 19:11). But a white horse only symbolises victorious power. Like the lion, the throne, the crown, and other emblems, Scripture uses it without regard to the moral character of the one it is connected with. Christ is called a lion, and so is the devil. God has a throne, and so has Satan. Christ has many crowns, and so has the dragon. The mere figure of a lion, a throne, or a crown proves nothing about the nature of the one spoken of. This must be learned from the context.

On the face of it, what could be stranger than to picture Him this way? He is the very One who, as the Lamb, opens the seals one by one. And when the sixth seal clearly points to Him, He still keeps the name of the Lamb!

The white horse speaks of the easy, bloodless conquests he makes. The bow speaks of the distant targets he reaches. The crown speaks of the success he attains.

God has used others in past ages to carry out His judgments on earth, and He uses this mighty conqueror in the same way. The man is not a monarch when he first appears. He gets his crown by his energy, his strategy, or his victories. God ordains the authorities that exist. So although this successful warrior may even seize his crown, it is still given to him. No one and nothing can withstand his seemingly irresistible power, as he marches on through victory to victory.

This is clearly a mighty subduing power at work in the earth. It is not only successful but increasingly so. It wins not in man's ordinary way of overcoming, by the sword, but by a quieter yet more powerful influence. The vision shows him with a crown given to him. It is not the many diadems of power and glory that Jesus will wear when He is revealed from heaven. It is a wreath, a garland, such as men award to one another, like the conqueror's wreath at the public games.

People have applied this to a great variety of things and persons — the triumphs of the gospel, Christ's coming again, Antichrist, and who knows what. But we may safely gather from the first seal that God, in judgment, employs a conqueror who is to carry everything before him. This is the notable event among men, the first thing to happen on earth after Christ comes and takes His glorified people to heaven.

There seems little reason to doubt that the seventh head of the beast is before us here… Remember that "the prince who is to come" is decisively a Roman prince. He is the one who will start that seven-year covenant with "the many" of Israel, the covenant that marks out for us the last of the seventy weeks in Daniel's prophecy.

The horses of different colours in the first four seals stand for the human agencies used to carry out these judgments on earth. These judgments are providential in character. But as Christians we have the mind of Christ, that is, the power to discern. So we look behind the course of events and trace everything back to the unseen source, God Himself. The living creatures act for the throne. One after another they call on the human instruments of vengeance to carry out the task God appointed them. They cannot move in judgment until the throne summons them to do so. What strength this is to the heart in days of evil!

It is plain enough that we should not have the words "and see" here, or after the other three horses. They are missing in the best text in all these passages. In every case the sentence should only be "Come." Here is the difference. "Come and see" would be a call to John. But in the better manuscripts the living creature says "Come" to the rider on the horse. That makes all the difference in the world.

It is hardly likely that a call to the Apostle would be accompanied with thunder. The word "Come" would be a call to the horses and riders, and with this, thunder would be quite fitting.

When the second seal is removed, we have the call of the second living being, that is, of the ox. In answer to this call, another horse comes out, red, the colour of blood. This is not the career of a conqueror. It is a general taking away of peace — everyone's hand, as it were, against his brother. So, civil war in all its dreadful reality... This is the fitting answer to the call of the second living creature. The ox is the type of the labourer, the one who meets man's need. It pictures the service that binds all people together.

How wonderfully our Lord bowed Himself to the yoke to serve the will of God and man's need!... It is this creature that calls out the second rider, on a red horse, who takes peace from the earth. Where people refuse the peaceable service of our Lord, war and bloodshed must follow. He would have prevented them.

He receives no definite commission, only liberty and authority to take peace from the earth, so that men kill one another. This liberty and authority — the great sword — lets him do the very thing fallen man is more than ready to do when left to himself.

The world, not the church, is the object of the judgment set out by the four horses. How absurd to look for the gospel in the white horse or any other! A war-horse of any colour never pictures spiritual work, though it is a fitting figure for aggressive power in good or evil.

It has been generally recognised that these first four judgments match those the Lord speaks of as "the beginning of the birth pains." He told His disciples about the future judgments coming on the earth in prophecy. He speaks first of "wars and rumours of wars." Then comes warfare among their own — "nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." Next the Lord foretells famines, and last of all pestilence.

The rider is unnamed. It is the day of the Lord's vengeance on the guilty scene. That is why the pronoun "him" is repeated. It stresses that the direct agent of judgment is a man appointed by God for that purpose — "to him it was given." Whatever motives or political ambitions may drive this coming man of blood, he is God's scourge for the time being.

The one who sits on him is not the proud, prosperous victor whom people quietly submit to. He is one who, if he wins, waves his standard over heaps of the slain. So he has a blood-red horse — the symbol of power connected with frightful carnage. The result of the first seal may have been peace and fairly bloodless changes. Under the second seal, all is blood.

The Second Seal presents to us a red horse and a great sword given to its rider. Red is the colour of blood, and it speaks of immense slaughter. The great sword, in contrast to the bow, symbolises close conflict. It emphasises the thought of great bloodshed. Note, it is not only a sword, but a great sword.

He receives no definite commission. He receives only liberty and authority to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. That liberty and authority — the great sword — is simply to do what fallen man is most ready and inclined to do when left to himself. Who can look back at the first scenes of man's history, after God shut him out of Eden, and not sigh at this likeness of fallen Adam stamped on our race of Cain?

He has a divine mandate "to take peace from the earth," and "that they should slay one another." Wherever he goes he stirs up the angry passions of men. It is not "nation against nation" here, but that "they should slay one another." The wild passions of men are let loose, and a time of mutual slaughter follows.

With the opening of the second seal, John sees that a red horse comes forth and peace is taken from the earth. This surely shows what comes of the victorious career of the rider on the first horse. The nations rise in general revolt, fighting among themselves and shedding blood. The result is that peace is taken from the earth.

The lion is the symbol of royalty; the ox is the symbol of labour. This patient animal devotes its great strength to the service of man, working willingly for his good. How wonderfully our Lord bowed Himself to the yoke, to serve the will of God and man's need!… It is this creature that calls out the second rider, on a red horse, who takes peace from the earth. Where men refuse the peaceable service of our Lord, there must be war and bloodshed, which He would have prevented.

The third horse is black, the colour of mourning. The colour tells us that sorrows of a special kind must follow next — caused now not by bloodshed, but by scarcity... A denarius was the daily wage. It was hardly enough for one man's daily food. The choenix of wheat seems to have been a bare minimum, since it was the ration given to a slave... God is laying His hand upon the world.

The "pair of scales" in the rider's hand recalls Ezekiel's prophecy about the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army: "I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety..." (Ezek. 4:16.) It is an image that points straight to scarcity. The prices also show how extraordinarily dear the commonest necessities had become. They run at about eight times the rate current at that time.

Here we have the "high cost of living" pushed to the limit. A "measure" (choenix) was about a quart, and counted as one person's ration for a day. A "penny," as we know from the parable of the labourers (Matt. 20), was a day's wage... So we reach this appalling conclusion. In these coming days of unmatched scarcity, a working man's whole day's earnings will buy just enough food for himself — or for one other person besides himself, if he will eat the coarser food (barley). But what is to become of his family, his children, or others who depend on him?

The Third Seal gives us the black horse and the pair of scales in his hand. This speaks of what usually follows a bloody war: famine. Notice the necessities of the poor — wheat and barley — at impossible prices. Meanwhile the luxuries of the rich — the oil and the wine — go untouched.

The opening of the first four seals is directly connected with the four living creatures, who are not mentioned in the last three seals. The living creatures seem to stand for God's governmental dealings in providential ways. So however terrible the judgments under the first four seals, nothing in them will show a direct, miraculous intervention by God. They will not be unlike events that have happened many times in the history of the world. They may, though, surpass in intensity anything that has yet taken place.

The face of a man suggests intelligence, sympathy and all that is truly human... Our Lord fed the poor. Because of His rejection, the third creature calls forth the third rider, who stands for famine (Rev. 6:5-6). In the Gospel of Luke we have the parable of the great supper and the Father's feast for the son who comes home. Where these are refused, a famine must come — not only for the individual, but for the world which has rejected Him.

The white horse is the symbol of power in victory. The red horse stands for power in bloodshed. The black horse points to power that brings in a time of grief and mourning. Here, as in Zechariah 6:2, the black horse follows the red. "Our skin was black," says the weeping prophet, "like an oven because of the terrible famine" (see Lam. 5:10; Jer. 4:28; Jude 13, etc., for the symbolic force of this colour).

The scales in the rider's hand recall what Ezekiel said about the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army: "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment." (Ezek. 4:16.) It is a picture that strongly suggests scarcity. The prices given also show how dear the commonest necessities of life had become. They work out at about eight times the going rate of the time.

In our country a penny suggests something of no great value. But in those times and places, a choenix of wheat for a denarius was very dear. Not long before, a man could buy seven or eight choenixes for that money. A denarius was the daily wage, and it was barely enough for one man's daily food. The choenix of wheat seems to have been a minimum, since it was the ration given to a slave.

Barley was generally eaten by slaves and the poor, being much cheaper than wheat and of a coarser kind. Here a denarius buys only one measure of wheat — just barely enough, and no more, to keep a person alive. But what about the many aged people, women and children who cannot work? If a denarius can only buy the food one person needs, what about the crowds who cannot work through weakness or other disability?

But while there is widespread desolation and want, God thinks of the needs of His creatures, and limits the effects of the famine by sparing the oil and the wine.

People could not live on oil and wine. Wheat and barley are essentials. People saw oil and wine as luxuries, found only on the tables of the rich (Prov. 21:17; Jer. 31:12; Ps. 104:15). So the punishment under this Seal falls mainly on the working classes. The rich and the ruling classes are clearly left out. But they will not escape. Under the sixth Seal (vv. 12-17) judgment falls on all alike, from the ruler down to the slave.

But the living creatures are not themselves the source of this providential chastisement. They are closely connected with the throne (Rev. 4:6), but God is the One who sits on it, and always will be. The one who sees the vision hears a voice from the very centre, from the throne of the Eternal, announcing a famine. God Himself is the source of these early, providential judgments on people on earth.

So an ordinary famine is meant here. Yet, as already said, there is a further link. The natural is everywhere a picture of the spiritual, and it depends on the spiritual as the lesser depends on the greater. So our everyday mercies are ours through Christ alone. Take away the one, the other goes. A natural famine is the fitting result of rejecting spiritual food. With the substance goes the shadow also.

The fourth seal was a pale, ghastly horse — the colour of death. So the name of its rider is Death, and Hades followed with him. To make the point plainer still, we are told that he was given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death (pestilence, perhaps), and by the wild animals of the earth.

The four seals deal with living men, so death, which carries them off, stands out most. Hades appears only as the one who receives those death has cut off — he acts as death's hearse, and that is why he is given no horse of his own. Hades does not follow after death; he comes with him. The two are keepers, one of men's bodies, the other of their souls. At the close of the thousand years' reign they give up their prisoners, and are themselves destroyed: they are pictured as persons and thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). Hades means the state that follows at once after death, the state between death and resurrection, and resurrection brings it to an end. Death and Hades are here used in relation to the ungodly only. The word Hades just means "the unseen," so the English word "Hell" is not a fair equivalent for it.

Each of the earlier seals names one instrument of judgment. Here there are four — the same four the Lord threatened guilty Jerusalem with long ago. The only difference is that here the "beasts" are named last, and "death," third in the list, should be read as "pestilence." The sword of the second seal and the hunger of the third come back under the fourth seal, joined by two more.

Death is given power over "a fourth of the earth," and comes down on it with God's four disastrous acts of judgment — "sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence" (Ezekiel 14:21). The sword ruins whole lands. The survivors are left with wasted fields and supplies, and die of hunger and plague. Wild animals leave their dens and prowl over the ruined country.

This is the natural outcome of what has gone before. Man's pride (the white horse) wants to conquer. That offends the pride of others, and so it leads to bloodshed (the red horse). Bloodshed leads just as surely to famine (the black horse), and the pale look of death from famine, pestilence and the like (the pale horse) follows close behind.

We are reminded again that these judgments — their order, their character, how long they last, how severe they are — all come from the throne of God. "Authority," we read, "was given to him," not to "them." Whether the text reads "him" or "them" is disputed, but the internal evidence decides it.

Here mercy seems to step in with a tighter limit: he is given authority over a fourth of the earth... So this is the natural end of the first series of seals — a complete end, except for the limit God's mercy sets. After all, the rainbow of promise stands over these clouds of terrible judgment.

In the limitations of the woes of the seal period, we see a mark of the lingering mercy of our Lord over this world, who is not willing that any should perish.

So man would explain these things away, and the wise are caught in their own cleverness. But we know in advance, from God's word, that a time of conquest is coming — then bloody warfare, then famine, and last of all the pouring out of God's severe plagues. The heavenly saints must be set in rest and peace in the presence of God, and the church safely sheltered, before these judgments begin.

The Fifth Seal differs from what came before it and what follows: all its action stays in heaven. The Lamb on the throne in heaven opened the seal, and John was there too. But in this one he sees no horses going out to earth, and none of the scenes on earth found in the sixth and seventh. His vision here is entirely of heaven.

The "souls under the altar" (the altar of burnt offering) plainly speak of them as a sacrifice given to God. The blood of such sacrifices was poured out at the base of the altar. In the life-blood, the soul — which is also the life — is said to be poured out. So Isaiah 53 says of Christ that He "poured out His soul to death." Here we have at once the implication that God accepts this offering of His people.

Their souls appear in vision "underneath the altar." On the altar would express the whole burnt offering being offered. But underneath it — where the blood of the sin offering was poured out (Lev. 4:7) — signifies that the sacrifice is complete. The martyrdom of the saints was not taking place. The scene was over… The martyrs are not seen here in life, nor as risen, but in the separate state, "the souls of them that had been slain."

Clearly their bodies were beheaded, for men cannot kill the soul. Their souls survived: they cried out with a loud voice, and they were told to wait for God's time to judge their enemies.

Here the true and real reason for their martyrdom is named, "slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." The word of God, faithfully declared with its sharp claims on a person's conscience, always stirs up the hostility of the world. Those who set it out most faithfully in life and public testimony must seal that witness with their blood… "The testimony which they held" is not to the grace of God as it is now, but to the righteous claims of God in setting up His kingdom on earth… The sacrificial word "slain" fits the special character of these witnesses, who are probably Jewish.

Many people think that those in question are Christians. But if we look more closely at the passage, we may learn that this again confirms that the church has already been removed to heaven. Is their prayer or desire in keeping with the grace of the gospel?… Take Stephen's prayer, following our blessed Lord, the pattern of all that is perfect. On the other hand we have similar language elsewhere: but where? In the Psalms and the Prophets.

Their cry, "How long," shows that they know there is a limit to the persecution of God's people… Others are still to follow before the time of judgment is over. So they are told to wait a while longer, until the martyrdom of their brothers is complete. The white robes witness to their practical righteousness and so to God's approval. They witnessed for God as the Holy and the True, and men opposed and killed them, but God approved them and will avenge their blood.

Their being under the altar means simply that they had offered their bodies to God as sacrifices for the truth. The white robes are the witness of their righteousness — God's declared approval of them; but the time for their being avenged was not yet. I do not think that giving white robes is resurrection. The first resurrection is sovereign grace. It gives us the same place with Christ — "forever with the Lord." It follows on His work, and on His being our righteousness, which is the same for all of us. White robes given in this way are the recognition of the righteousness (righteousnesses) of the saints. So they are seen in Revelation 19:8, at His appearing. "They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy."

God hears the cry for vengeance, but delays the answer. In the meantime the Lord gives a token of special approval. He singles out each one of the martyred band for honour and vindication. "Then they were each given a white robe."

White robes are given them as tokens of Christ's approval. But they are still left as souls under the altar; not raised like the elders, who are already perfected by the redemption of their bodies. There are other martyrs yet to die, and they must remain until these also have suffered.

God has vindicated them, though they do not take their place on thrones until Revelation 20. Spirits without bodies are never said to sit there. When they enter the blessedness meant for them above, we do not read of glorified spirits, but of bodies. They will reign with Christ.

Another class of martyrs must yet be made up… No account of the killing of these saints appears here: we must look for it in other and later parts of the book. Meanwhile the earlier sufferers enjoy the result of righteousness, and God owns them. But they must wait. A new and distinct band of martyred brothers has still to be filled up, and these are to suffer right up to the close. Then retribution will come. Wickedness must reach its height and do its worst before the hour of full divine judgment. Another and final outburst of persecution must come first. But notice here too: not one of them is offered the hope that the Lord will take them away without passing through death.

The time of vengeance was measured by "a little while." Another company would swell the ranks of the noble army of martyrs. Here they are called "fellow servants" and "brothers." These verses point to two separate companies of martyred saints. The earlier company was killed under the fifth seal. The later company is killed at a following period, here called "a little while." The cry from "under the altar" can have no full answer until this second group of the martyred band is complete.

Here we have the complete company of God's faithful witnesses. They lived in the time between the coming of Christ for the church and His appearing. They did not count their lives dear to them, but sealed their testimony with their blood. They are now seen to have the blessed reward of a part in the first resurrection. The witnesses of our chapter belong to this company. Meanwhile God gives them white robes as a token of His approval and recognition of their faithfulness.

The next seal shows that God was not indifferent in the meantime. The sixth seal may be seen as something like an immediate result of that earlier cry. When it opens, a vast upheaval follows — a thorough shaking of everything above and below, set out in symbols, as in the previous seals.

The Sixth Seal is the logical outcome of the previous seals. War, bloodshed, famine, pestilence, fearful conditions of life, lead to great political upheaval. The great earthquake speaks of a mighty convulsion of ordered society. Anarchy will sweep all before it.

This cloth of goats' hair was used for tents. It was probably also what we call sackcloth: "The sun became black as sackcloth of hair" (Revelation 6:12). People wore it when they mourned, and when they humbled their souls in repentance.

The sun symbolizes the supreme governing authority (Genesis 37:9; Revelation 12:1). "Black as hair sackcloth" points to the darkening power of Satan. It shows the supreme authority of earth, on which everyone depended, in total collapse. The darkening of the heavenly bodies is a dreadful disaster in the physical world, and that is what makes the figure fit here.

The "whole moon" pictures all authority that comes straight from the supreme power and depends on it. In the physical world the moon is a secondary body, and it stands for borrowed authority in the moral world. It is also the chosen picture of Israel, depending on Christ the Sun of Righteousness… "Became as blood." This points to the moral death and falling away of every lesser authority. "Blood" is a universal figure of death.

This is worth noting. If heaven itself were really rolled up like a scroll, and every mountain and island really moved out of its place, no place would be left to hide in. So to take it as anything other than a symbolic picture would contradict itself… It is a complete overturning of authority, high and low, an unequalled upheaval of every class of people. It overturns the foundations of power and authority for the world, and fills men's minds with the fear that the day of judgment has come.

There is no repentance, no cry for mercy, merely a terror of vengeance… But their horror is premature. The judgments preceding the great day of wrath have begun; but not the day itself. God will let man go on a little longer in his sin, to show that this fear does not change his heart. With him, as with Pharaoh, each judgment that passes only makes his heart harder.

There can be no real question that the description is figurative. If we took it literally, we would clearly be at the end of the Millennium itself, since the first heaven does not pass away until then, and that is what is pictured here... In people's minds the day of the Lamb's wrath has already come. But we will find that much comes in between before it really arrives, near as it may be.

This is only how it appeared to John in the vision. We are not to suppose that heaven and earth will be physically thrown into chaos when this prediction comes true. He saw all this before his eyes as signs, and we have to consider what they mean.

There will no doubt be physical disturbances, such as a great earthquake and the sun, the moon and the stars affected. Yet the spiritual meaning of these things is far more important.

The sun, that is, supreme authority, becomes black. The moon, that is, subordinate authority, becomes like blood. The stars of heaven, the lower authorities, fall. Heaven itself departs too, that is, the whole scene of government. The complete overthrow of all earthly authority takes place.

All the lesser authorities — individual rulers, both civil and religious — morally fell from their high position. They gave up God and their relationship with Him. The unripe, out-of-season figs are the ones hidden under the leaves that never ripen, and a strong wind throws them off in winter. When the wintry winds of God's wrath sweep across the scene, those who were never truly His will openly turn away from Him. However high their position, they will drop every outward connection with Him.

The stars of heaven stand for those who claim to have spiritual light. Their falling to the earth in great numbers points to a widespread falling away — a giving up of any claim to heaven, and a drop to the level of earthly-mindedness. Having no stability, the wind of hard circumstances shakes them easily.

The fig tree is so often a symbol of the Jew. So the reference to it may show that this upheaval will affect that people in particular, and so prepare the way for the acceptance of antichrist.

The whole structure of civil and governmental power on earth breaks up. Disorder rules everywhere. It is not simply the collapse of this or that government. It is the total overthrow of all governing authority, both the highest and the ranks under it... What an awful scene to think about! A world without a magistrate! Without even the appearance of rightful power! Without government! Without any authority to restrain!

In Revelation 6:13 we read of those coming events, when the very stars of heaven will fall to earth... We need to remind ourselves that "now is the day of salvation."

"The heaven was removed as a book rolled up." The political, civil, and religious systems, the constitution, bonds, and framework of society, will disappear as completely as a rolled-up scroll becomes unreadable. The physical removal of the heaven (Rev. 21:1) and of the heavens (2 Peter 3:10) is one of the most staggering events the Word of God records. That does not mean the dwelling place of God, of saints, and of angels, of course. But the entire ending of all governmental order — the moral heaven — is one of the most dreadful events still to come. We have had the ruin of all greater and lesser authorities, but here the whole system in which they were placed itself collapses.

Heaven rolled as a scroll is the whole seat and place of authority overturned; and so of mountains and islands — the stable seats of authority overturned, and what was ordered, and rose above the vague mass of peoples, removed.

If heaven were literally removed as a scroll, and every mountain and island moved out of its place, there would be no place left to hide in. That much is obvious. So to take it as anything other than symbolic representation would be self-contradictory... The prophet did see these objects, heavenly and earthly, in utter confusion. But we must look for the meaning by the ordinary rules of interpretation. It is a complete revolution of authority high and low, an unmatched convulsion of all classes of mankind within its own sphere. Its effect is to overturn the foundations of power and authority for the world, and to fill men's minds with the fear that the day of judgment has come.

There can be no real question that the description is figurative. If we took it literally, we would plainly be at the end of the thousand-year reign itself, for not until then does the first heaven pass away, as it is pictured here... Isaiah 34 is a prophecy of the destruction of Edom and the desolation that follows it. There we read, "All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll." ... The words in their setting show that we cannot take the breaking up of the heavens literally... On the other hand, the meaning as a symbol is not hard to grasp. Even in a physical sense, the heavens rule the earth. Scripture uses them in this way to picture earthly government.

A mountain represents a system of settled power (Dan. 2:35; Jer. 51:25) — a long established, stable, and powerful government. The Jews saw islands as sources of wealth, as centres of trade and commerce (Isa. 23:2; Ezek. 27:3-15). This verse declares the removal of all that people count lasting and great, and of the sources of wealth and commerce too.

Men have rejected heaven's rule. So the heaven departing as a rolled-up scroll means that God will leave them for a time exposed to the results of their own folly. It is as if He rolls up the scroll of His direct government. The mountains removed speak of the overthrow of the solid powers of government. The islands show neutral powers who will not be able to stay out of the general upheaval: they cannot keep their neutrality.

It is not simply the collapse of this or that government. It is the total overthrow of all governing authority, both supreme and dependent... The coming crash will sweep into one catastrophe everything on earth that people think secure and strong. It will create a vast civil, social, and political chaos. What an awful scene to contemplate! A world without a magistrate! Without even the appearance of rightful power! Without government!

The whole fabric of civil and governmental power on earth breaks up. Disorder reigns supreme. This is not just the collapse of one government or another. It is the total overthrow of all governing authority, both the highest and the ranks beneath it... A world without a magistrate! Without even the appearance of rightful power! Without government! With no power left to restrain evil!

This is worth noting. If heaven were really rolled away like a scroll, and every mountain and island moved out of its place, there could be no place left to hide. To take it as anything other than a symbolic picture would contradict itself... It is a complete revolution of authority, high and low, an upheaval without parallel among all classes of people, within its own sphere.

The verse lists seven classes of people, and, as usual, these again fall into two groups of three and four. The first is made up of those who govern: "kings," the highest and most exalted; "the great," or princes; and "chiliarchs," the military commanders. The second group is the class that holds no office, given in pairs: "the rich" and "the powerful," "slave and free."

All of them together, great and small, sink to the same level: their hearts fail them for fear. They hide themselves, but not in the secret of God's presence (Ps. 31:19-20). They prefer the dens and rocks of the mountains, which stand for the human institutions people call solid and which have now been so shaken. Though they feel that this is God's judgment and the wrath of the Lamb, they do not repent. They think only of escaping the judgment by protection they have improvised themselves. Yet, little as they realise it, they are in effect inviting their own destruction.

They had been making themselves happy without God... God does not appear in the judgment; but man has a conscience. So, faced with this dreadful blow, all alike fear the wrath of God and of the Lamb... His warriors even tremble in the felt presence of a God whose very existence they had until now denied.

They say in their alarm that His great day has come. God does not say so. He reveals that this is the thought and language of their fear. Those are two very different things, and many readers, old and new, confuse them in their shortsightedness. For how could the seventh seal follow, if the sixth were really the end of man's day?

Their alarm and fear seem to have passed, and unbelief has taken their place in their hearts. They are in full league with the Man of Sin against Christ... Then men will be bold indeed in their hostility to the Lamb, instead of being overwhelmed with anguish and terror, as at the time of the sixth seal.

Adam and Eve had disobeyed God's word. They were afraid, so they tried to hide from His presence among the trees of the garden. People will try to hide in the same useless way on a huge scale in the future.

There is something fearful in the thought of a world crying out for shelter "from the wrath of the Lamb." It is the wrath of the meek and lowly One, who "was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities." But it is a solemn truth. The same voice that now says, "Come to me," will one day say, "Depart from me, you cursed," if His tender invitations are refused. Now is the day of salvation. Then is the day of judgment. Every arrow of judgment will surely be barbed by the memory of grace refused.

In Revelation 6:12-17 it is not the walk, nor the work, nor the worship, but the wrath of the Lamb that we find... What? the wrath of the Lamb? Yes, a paradox, but an awful fact; a seeming contradiction, but a terrible truth! You who despise Him, tremble! The hand you nailed to the cross will hold the sceptre. The brow you tore with the crown of thorns will wear the crown of glory. The One who was led as a Lamb to the slaughter will sit as Judge on the throne.

When John looks for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he sees a "Lamb as though it had been slain." And when wrath is ready to fall on men, Scripture still calls it "the wrath of the Lamb." Indeed, that is what makes it so terrible. It is the wrath of love itself. It is the judgment of One with whom judgment is a "strange work." It is judgment so unsparing because love itself moves the arm and guides the blow. It is judgment for which there is no remedy... It is judgment that no prayer can turn aside.

In the Book of Revelation we see that the One who sets all the judgments moving, by opening the seals, is the Lamb... I cannot imagine any wrath belonging to Christ as the Lamb — but that is what the princes and leaders of this world will say... Why, you can hardly imagine anything more simple and gentle than a little lamb! Yet the world-leaders dread His wrath, because they know nothing of His atoning sacrifice. In the first chapter of John the word is the ordinary one for lamb, amnos. But when we see Him on the throne in Revelation the word is arnion, a smaller form of the word — a "little Lamb"!

God does not appear in the judgment. But man has a conscience. So when this terrible disaster comes, all alike are afraid of the wrath of God and of the Lamb. Where now is man's courage? Even man's warriors tremble as they feel the presence of a God whose very existence they had denied until now.

There is no repentance and no cry for mercy. There is only terror of vengeance, and a frantic wish to escape. It shows in their call to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the dreaded wrath... Man will be allowed to go on a little longer in his sin. This will show that fear does not change his heart. With him, as with Pharaoh, each judgment, once past, only makes his hardness worse.

Revelation 6:16-17 does not show that the day itself has come. It shows a terrible upheaval that produced this fear in men's minds. They said, "the great day of His wrath has come." The Spirit did not say it... These are words of human terror, not God's own words — except that God foretold that men's hearts would fail them for fear.

This present age proclaims God in grace. He is pleading with men to be reconciled to Him. But those who refuse to know Him in this great salvation must come to know Him later in judgment. If a person despises the blood of the Lamb, he must face the wrath of the Lamb.

With the opening of the sixth seal, the judgments will take a more terrible form... Earthquakes would picture the breaking up of all social, religious, and political order. The statements about the sun, moon, and stars would picture the complete overthrow of everyone who governs, from the highest to the lowest. The mountains and islands being removed out of their places set out the break-up of empires. These upheavals will look so terrible to men that they will be struck in conscience as they see the hand of God at work, and will fear that the great day of His wrath has come. But, having rejected the testimony of God's witnesses, they say, "Who will be able to stand?"

Every class of society, from the kings of the earth down to the poor slaves, is filled with abject terror. They had been making themselves happy without God. Like Belshazzar, they were feasting to their hearts' content with their wicked enjoyments. But even as they feasted, the whole framework of man's order, on which they had been resting in imagined security, is struck and shattered into ten thousand pieces. God does not appear in the judgment; but man has a conscience, and so they all fear the wrath of God and of the Lamb. Where now is man's courage? His warriors even tremble in the felt presence of a God whose very existence they had until then denied.

Men will see every established authority here below overturned. The effect will be that they think the day of the Lord has come... It is an error to confuse their saying so with God's declaration. It is not He but they who cry that the great day of the wrath has come. There is no excuse for so mistaken an interpretation. These frightened crowds exclaim it. But in fact the great day does not arrive until a long time afterwards, as Revelation itself proves.

Though the climax of "the great day of His wrath" was not yet, they had entered on that day, for the day of God's grace in the gospel was closed. Men may stand in God's grace, but no one can stand before His wrath.

What? The wrath of the Lamb? Yes, a paradox, but an awful fact; a seeming contradiction, but a terrible truth! You who despise Him, tremble! That hand which you nailed to the cross will hold the sceptre. That brow which you tore with the crown of thorns will wear the crown of glory. He who was led as a Lamb to the slaughter will sit as a Judge on the throne.

After this, so far is the great day of His wrath from being come, that we find in the parenthesis of Revelation 7 God carrying out mighty works of saving mercy. The first is the sealing of 144,000 out of the tribes of Israel... Next the prophet sees a crowd of Gentiles that no one could number.

When the great day of His wrath has come, who will be able to stand? Who? The great, the mighty, the noble of the earth? Who? The well-disposed, the upright, the moral? Only those who are redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

Notice that the two visions of Revelation 7 form no part of the sequence of the seals. The sixth seal is now open, and the seventh does not come until Revelation 8. These visions are introduced as something separate: "After this I saw." They are a parenthesis between the sixth and seventh seals. Indeed they could not form part of the seals, for they are different in nature. The seals are judgments. These visions are visions of remarkable grace — to Israel first, and also to the Gentiles. There is a moral beauty in this interruption. The seal judgments are rolling on, and the sixth has come. But the Lord stops the procession to display this magnificent show of grace — in wrath He remembers mercy.

Angels, as always, are the servants of God's providential rule. Here they act as the ones who carry out His judgments... In fact they hold back the powers of evil here. They are also the ones who, in God's own time, bring His vengeance through those same powers. They stand on the four corners of the earth. The whole earth is under the control God has given them, because the number four is the symbol of completeness on earth.

The "four winds of the earth" are those disturbing elements existing in all quarters, which God can at His will let loose in judgment.

The winds of the earth are the various influences that affect it from outside. They are certainly not divine influences, or God would not need to hold them back. They are the power of the enemy at work. Satan, as we learn elsewhere, is "the prince of the power of the air," and the course of this age is under his control. God is above it all, as we now see. Nothing exists unless God permits it. That is the security of His people, whatever hostile circumstances they pass through.

"That no wind might blow on earth" — the scene of settled government (Rev. 10:2; Ps. 46:2); "or sea" — nations and peoples in anarchy and confusion (Dan. 7:2-3; Isa. 57:20); "or against any tree" — the might and pride of earth (Dan. 4:10, 22; Ezek. 31:3-9, 14-18). The verse gives the reason for the pause in judgment in exact terms: "until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads" (v. 3).

John here views the earth as a vast open plain, bounded by the four main points of the compass, north, south, east, and west. At each of these corners an angel stands so as to have full control over the destructive forces of evil. Repeating the number "four" three times marks how complete and how wide-reaching the action is... The earth here must be understood in its largest sense.

This pictures God in His providence holding judgment back, so that the servants of God can be sealed in their foreheads. If Antichrist will seal his servants in their foreheads (see Revelation 13:16), God will seal His servants and preserve them.

The order of these things is important. It shows that God has complete control of the situation, even of the worst powers that may act on the earth. The earth may be in total turmoil but God takes care of the saints. He knows each one and this is so important for our comfort and consolation. Nothing is too difficult for Him, nor any situation too dangerous.

The four angels were given their power to harm the earth and the sea. So the judgment is in God's hand, even though the instruments may be working their own will. The angels have "power to harm" simply because they have the power to restrain the harmful influences, or not. So there is a time of quiet and relative safety until God has finished His own work in those who serve Him.

In every upheaval, in every preparation for God's judgments, the angel who shows God's power in mercy is stronger than the angels who carry out His judgments. Good is more powerful than evil. That angel who holds the seal can cry with a loud voice, Do not harm. We see the same thing with Lot, who is a picture of the remnant that escapes at the coming of the Son of Man. The angels could do nothing to Sodom until he had left it. So there is an order among the attributes of God: His mercy always goes before His justice.

He rises from the east, the sunrise, "with the seal of the living God." This sealing angel comes up from the sunrise for the preservation and blessing of Israel. He seems to be a herald of the Messiah. As the Sun of Righteousness, Messiah will rise with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2) and shine on the land and the people with a brightness nothing can dim. The angel brings the first fruits of the nation's blessing; the full harvest waits for Christ to appear from heaven.

Some have supposed that the sealing angel is Christ. One reason is the assumption that the work being done is the giving of the Holy Spirit of promise, the seal of redemption. To me all this is more than doubtful. Our Lord never takes an angelic form and title until we reach the trumpet series.

No angel could give the Holy Spirit. This angel's own words show he is a creature. The "we" shows that more than one carries out this ministry, and those who do it speak of God as "our God."

"The seal of the living God" implies safety from death. The seal on the forehead means a public, open acknowledgment that those who are sealed belong to God. We are not told what the seal is.

The instructed reader will see at once how this sealing differs from the sealing of believers now with the Holy Spirit. God seals believers of this present time as soon as their sins are forgiven, and He seals them for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). The 144,000 of this chapter are sealed with the seal of the living God. It keeps them safe through the judgments that will fall on the world. For Israel those judgments will be the day of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:4-9; see also Matt. 24:21-22). They are sealed for blessing on the earth in the kingdom of their glorious Messiah.

These servants are drawn from the twelve tribes of Israel, and their number, "one hundred and forty-four thousand," is symbolic. This surely shows that during this time of tribulation God will raise up His servants from among His ancient people Israel. They will be a public witness to Himself in every part of the world to which they may have been scattered.

The contents of our chapter form no part of events under the Seals. There is no historical sequence… So between the sixth seal and the seventh, belonging to neither, God brings in a deeply interesting episode of blessing to Israel and to the Gentiles. Judgment pauses, and the veil lifts so that we may see the heart of our God. It is not all judgment in those dark and evil days.

"That no wind might blow upon the earth," the scene of settled government (Rev. 10:2; Ps. 46:2): "nor upon the sea," nations and peoples in anarchy and confusion (Dan. 7:2-3; Isa. 57:20); "nor upon any tree," the might and pride of earth (Dan. 4:10, 22; Ezek. 31:3-9, 14-18). The angel states the reason judgment stops in precise terms: "until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."

Here we read that the four angels were given the power to hurt the earth and the sea. So the judgment is in the hand of God, although the instruments may be working their own will. The angels have "power to hurt" only because they can hold back the harmful influences, or let them loose. So there is a time of quiet and relative safety until God has finished His own work in those who serve Him.

We learn, next, that God governs the world with His people in view… In the same way, judgment was about to fall upon Jerusalem. The Lord had a mark put on the foreheads of the men who sighed and cried over all the abominations done in it (Ezek. 9). He kept this faithful remnant safe while the scourge swept over everything.

"The seal of the living God" means safety from death. The seal on the forehead is a public, open acknowledgment that those who carry it belong to God. What the seal is we are not told.

God's seal on their foreheads stands in contrast to the mark of the beast that unbelievers receive in Revelation 13:16-18.

Any instructed reader will at once see the difference between this sealing and the sealing of believers now with the Holy Spirit. Believers today are sealed as soon as their sins are forgiven, and they are sealed for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). The 144,000 of this chapter are sealed with the seal of the living God. This preserves them through the judgments that will fall upon the world… They are also sealed for blessing on the earth in the kingdom of their glorious Messiah.

I have little doubt this points to Christ (though in a new character, and in connection with the earthly people) and the saints. He holds the seal of the living God. Of course He alone could; but the saints are associated with Him. He says, "until we have sealed the servants of our God."

The words "until we have sealed" would be beneath the surpassing dignity of Christ. So would the closing words of the angel's cry, "the servants of our God." The language and spirit of John 20:17 runs right through the New Testament: "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God." We never meet the terms "our God" and "our Father" as covering Christ and believers together.

They had kept up the testimony of God through trial and difficulty. Their path was marked by conflict and service. So the title "servants" fits them well.

Revelation 7 is a parenthesis — in the middle of judgment, mercy is remembered. First, 144,000: that is, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel are sealed, so that no judgment meant for the earth may reach them (verses 1-8). Second (verses 9-17), a countless multitude from all the nations of the earth stand before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white with palms in their hands. How precious these rays of mercy are!

Those twelve tribes, described as they are there, with their names given, can mean nothing but the literal twelve tribes of Israel... The prophet sees another multitude which no one could number, drawn from all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages. That is, it is as expressly a Gentile body as the hundred and forty-four thousand were out of the tribes of Israel.

Their sealing guarantees that they will come safely through the Great Tribulation. They are kept not simply as individuals, but as Israelites, and so with earthly blessing as a nation in view. The tribes are mentioned by name (vv. 5-8), which would have no place if their destination was heaven.

When David tried to number the people, it was a presumptuous sin. But here it is the grace of God taking a full number out of the tribes of Israel for Himself. The number 144,000 is a regular and complete number, though I take it to be a symbolic one, with a view to God's use of Israel, His favoured nation, here on earth. The number twelve always points to what is perfect for God's work when man administers it. You can see this in the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve patriarchs, the twelve apostles, and even the twelve gates and twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem.

The numbers given here might of course be literal. More probably we should take them as symbols, since twelve and the square of twelve carry a symbolic sense elsewhere in the book. The godly remnant of Israel will have an important place in the government of the coming age, and twelve is the number of completeness in government.

"The seal of the living God" implies safety from death. The seal on the forehead is a public, open acknowledgment that those who are sealed belong to God. What the seal is, we are not told.

This sealing is the work of angels. It is very different, therefore, from the present sealing with the Holy Spirit, and from any power or gift of the Spirit. No angel could give that... The effect is that God's people are shown to be His, and so kept safe from the judgments about to be sent.

In Revelation 7, where the tribes are sealed for blessing, Dan is left out, as a type of the Antichrist. Ephraim is also left out, the number being made up by inserting Levi and by naming Joseph as well as Manasseh. In the future division of the land Dan will have a portion, but will be the farthest from the temple (Ezekiel 48:1-35).

Faith is sure that God knows where they are, and that He will make it clear in His own time and way... Israel is in the dark of night, beyond all question; but God's eye is on them. Not one of the tribes is forgotten before Him. He knows where to lay hands on them when He needs them for restoration and blessing.

Revelation 7 is a parenthesis — while judgment is going on, mercy is remembered. First come the 144,000: 12,000 sealed out of each tribe of Israel, so that no judgment coming on the earth may reach them (vv. 1-8)… Here in purest mercy 144,000 of Israel, who had crucified their Messiah, are guarded from grief.

In our English version three tribes are named in each verse. But the real arrangement of the tribes, like that of the apostles (Matt. 10:2-4), is in pairs. First, Judah and Reuben… Fourth, Simeon and Levi, the second and third sons of Leah, joined together in the prophetic list (Gen. 49:5-7), and also in the Lord's revealing of Himself to saved Israel (Zech. 12:13). Fifth, Issachar and Zebulun, the fifth and sixth sons of Leah.

In this prophetic and symbolic picture every distinction is wiped out. Only Judah keeps the first place. In Revelation it is a matter of God's government and of Christ's millennial reign. Here we no longer find the half-tribes of Manasseh. Levi is sealed like the other tribes. Joseph replaces Ephraim.

I would add this. Some parts of Scripture leave Levi out because they look at the land as lived in by the nation. That reason plainly does not hold good here. The question here is not about the land, but about witness before the nations.

When the kingdom divided, Simeon belonged in name to the ten tribes, but was completely cut off from the other nine. So they had two options only. They could merge with the two tribes — and of this we read nothing — or, as Jacob had prophesied, be "scattered in Israel." They were, in a way, lost in the land. Ezekiel prophesies about a future day. Then the twelve tribes will be restored and the land divided again. In that day the tribe of Simeon has its portion. Ezek. 48:24-35. They are also mentioned in Rev. 7:7, when a remnant of them will be sealed for blessing.

He will have an election from that people. But it will be a personal and individual election — not merely a national one as of old. When David tried to count the people, it was a presumptuous sin. Here it is the grace of God taking a full number of the tribes of Israel for Himself. The number 144,000 is a regular and complete number, though a mystical one, as I take it… The number twelve always points to what is perfect for God's work, carried out under man's administration.

The natural order of birth is not kept here. So Judah, and not Reuben, heads the list, for blessing on the ground of mercy can only come through Him who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and Offspring of David. There have been many guesses as to why Dan is left out. Some have thought it is because the tribe of Dan was so mixed up with idolatry. Others suppose that "the man of sin" will be a Danite. But the hundred and forty-four thousand are an election out of Israel, so these reasons cannot be entertained for a moment… We may notice also that the tribes are sealed with the seal of the living God, which shows their security and preservation in a time of judgment and death. Their standing before God is that of "servants," not "sons," or members of the body of Christ, as we are.

The Gentile company (v. 9) is not numbered. The company from Israel, by contrast, is counted with care. The result is not a round number but an exact one: a hundred and forty-four thousand. Twelve thousand out of each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The numbers, whether on their own (12) or multiplied (144), mean a complete and definite number. Twelve is the number that marks Israel... The number of the sealed is symbolic, of course. It simply means that God has claimed for Himself a certain, complete, yet limited number out of Israel.

Twelve is the number of perfect government in the hands of man. So it appears in the foundations, gates, and measurements of the new Jerusalem. (Rev. 21.) It will mean, then, a perfect number kept for the kingdom — the people through whom Messiah will rule the nations on the earth.

Their sealing guarantees that God will keep them safe through the Great Tribulation. He keeps them not simply as people, but as Israel, and so with blessing on earth as a nation in view. The tribes are named (vv. 5-8), which would have no place if their destination was heaven. Verse 8 speaks of Joseph, but this clearly means Ephraim, Joseph's son, since Manasseh, Joseph's other son, is also included.

The order in which they are listed is found nowhere else. It is unusual in the way the sons of different mothers — wives and concubines — are mixed together... "In the fourth group Zebulun is joined with Joseph and Benjamin — the later children of Leah with the later children of Rachel."

In this prophetic and symbolic picture every distinction is wiped out, except that Judah holds first place. That is because in Revelation the subject is God's government and Christ's thousand-year reign. Here we no longer find the half-tribes of Manasseh. Levi is sealed like the other tribes. Joseph replaces Ephraim. Dan is left out completely. He is judged, in line with Jacob's prophecy; the Antichrist and his people, pictured by Dan, cannot be sealed.

The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are omitted from this list, although we find Joseph, the father of Ephraim, mentioned in his place. Their history in the Old Testament ties them closely to idolatry. But we also see grace coming in, because God is not finished with these two tribes. In Ezekiel 48 the land is shared out among the tribes, and both Dan and Ephraim are named — Dan first of all. God has not forgotten them; grace has come in and they have been restored.

The meaning, then, is this: before the various judgments fall on creation, God will have claimed a certain people for Himself. They are sealed with the seal of the living God. That is, a stamp is put on them marking them out as set apart to God... Protection may also be involved here. In any case, they are sealed on their foreheads. Of course that means no physical mark. It means God setting them apart for Himself — and, I think, doing it openly.

Notice that they are not simply sealed for God, but as "the servants of our God." It is in this character that they carry the gospel of the kingdom to the nations.

This is not a picture of the redeemed of all times. Scripture says plainly that it is a countless crowd of Gentiles, set in contrast with Israel, and seen in relation to God ruling as judge. So it is not universal. These Gentiles stand in clear contrast with the sealed ones out of Israel. One of the elders spoke about them and explained them to the prophet, who would have been at a loss without it. ... They are a crowd of Gentiles whom God will preserve by gracious power in these last days. They are not said to be glorified, and there is no reason to doubt that they are still in their natural bodies.

Do not confuse the twenty-four elders with the sealed one hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel. Do not confuse them with the great multitude of chapter 7 either. Each company is distinct. As to the one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, what is that? Measured grace. God's faithful grace to Israel is absolute and perfect. He keeps every promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He blesses their descendants. But after all, it is what I may call measured grace. But "a great multitude that no one could number" tells of unmeasured and immeasurable grace. Its very largeness is refreshing.

Another thing also marks the two companies apart. God seals the elect of Israel, marking them out for preservation, before His more direct judgments begin. The Gentile multitude wears the white robe of righteousness and holds the palms of victory, having come out of the great tribulation. The one case, then, shows that God knows how to secure those already in relationship with Him before the judgment begins. The other shows how God can overrule tribulation, even of the fiercest kind, to reach people who had no relationship with Him before. He brings them into relationship with Himself and carries them through the tribulation in victory.

The wicked will fall before the judgments of God's throne and of the Lamb who acts in judgment. But there will be those who stand in safety before the throne and the Lamb. When God judges the nations for their wickedness, there will be those whom He accepts as righteous, as the "white robes" show. The devil, the beast and the Antichrist will lead the world into rebellion against God. Even then there will be those who are victorious over all the power of the enemy, as the "palms in their hands" symbolise.

Notice again who asks the question: one of the twenty-four elders, one of the heavenly saints. He asks, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" John said, "Sir, you know." The elders understand who the earthly companies are. Clearly they are not the church, which the elders stand for. This must also be an earthly scene, because the temple is there (v. 15). In Revelation 21, where the church is seen in glory, there is "no temple."

It comes from their circumstances. The throne they stand before is not a throne of mercy but of righteousness. Here the Lamb appears not as slain for sin but as carrying out judgment... For them, Christ's coming means rescue from tribulation on earth and a settled place of blessing on earth. They are not thinking here about God's grace in giving His Son, or about Christ's love in redeeming them by His blood. Their minds are on the delivering power that has stepped in with judgment on their behalf.

Here they do not sing like the elders. They ascribe "salvation to God" as the One who sits on the throne — in this book, His judicial throne — and to the Lamb. In other words, no one could have raised this cry before Revelation 4… This is far from a picture of the redeemed of all times. The text plainly says they are a countless throng out of the Gentiles, marked off from Israel. And this is not now or long ago. It relates to God as He governs in judgment at a future time.

Their struggles and trials are over. The throne before which they stand is now and for ever their strength and security… They ascribe salvation, in its fullest sense, to God and to the Lamb. Not a member of that redeemed host is silent… Sovereign grace has done its mighty work. Out of all lands and languages it has gathered a Gentile host beyond all human counting. Each and all were once "dead in sins." Now grace has placed them saved and blessed before God's throne.

The devil, the beast, and the Antichrist will lead the world into rebellion against God. Even then, some will be victorious over all the power of the enemy… But if God brings them safely through the judgments, they take no credit to themselves. They ascribe all their blessing to God and the Lamb. On the very day when judgment is going out from "the throne" and "the Lamb," they can say, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

Their song ascribing deliverance to "God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb," is very different from the praise of the Church — "To Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood"… These victors say nothing of the blood or redemption. They only ascribe salvation to God on His throne, and to the Lamb. Yet later we see that they had "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Why, then, are they silent about this in their praise?

The throne before which they stand is not one of mercy, but of righteousness. Here the Lamb is seen not as slain for sin, but as carrying out judgment… For them the coming of Christ means rescue from tribulation on earth, and a settled place in earthly blessing… They are not thinking here of the grace of God in giving His Son, or of the love of Christ in redeeming them with His blood. Their thoughts are on the delivering power that has stepped in with judgment on their behalf. This is the constant theme of the Psalms.

It is Jehovah, but Jehovah in the Son. It is the throne of God, yet the eternal living One in the Person of Jesus. So we see that the Lamb was in the midst of the throne… We may say the Father is seen, but seen in the Lamb, the Son; see also Revelation 7:10, 17, in the Greek. They are never different, but they are distinct — it is "The throne of God and of the Lamb."

What an answer! "A multitude that no man could number!" Every race called in to swell the triumph of the Lamb and to proclaim the mighty results of His work on the cross! What a plan is our God's!

The grace that gathers this vast crowd for blessing, on the very day when judgments are falling on the world, brings out a burst of praise in heaven. The angels, the elders, and the four living creatures fall down and worship before the throne.

In both scenes the angels form the outer circle around the throne… The elders and living creatures form inner circles, and these two come in a different order in the two scenes. In the earlier one the elders form the innermost circle; in the later the living creatures are nearest the throne… In the first, the Lamb is in full view, so the redeemed in heaven (the elders) gather around Him. In the second, God sits on His throne, the symbol of universal sovereignty, and that would account for the near place of the living creatures, who represent the executive authority of the throne… You can see something of how deep the angels' worship is from their position: they fell down on their faces.

The angels now enter the scene, and worship God face down before the throne… They watch with interest as the white-robed multitude honour God and the Lamb. But salvation to the Lamb was not their own part of the song, because they had always stood in their own perfection as creatures. So, having added their "Amen" to the praise of the multitude, they worship their God.

All this belonged to the white-robed multitude and the angels; only the multitude speak of the Lamb, who was also their salvation. The angels add their Amen to this, but they praise their God. They had given glory and blessing to the Lamb before… The four living creatures and the elders do not worship here, because their own relationships were different… Each gives the motives of worship according to the relationship he is in. The angels' relationship is with their God. The white-robed multitude's is with the God of the throne, and with the Lamb, who holds the title to the government and deliverance of the earth as a present thing.

In verse 12 the angels give glory to God in seven terms: "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might." But they don't mention salvation, because they don't need any.

Compare this with the song of the angels in chapter 5. We no longer find "the Lamb that was slain" as the prominent object… Here the subject is not the title, but the fact. The angels praise God that His kingdom is at last established in open power and glory, while the deliverance so worked out is what the palm-bearing multitude gives thanks for.

Further, it is clear the elders are not angels, because Revelation 7:11 keeps these classes separate. The elders were dressed in white clothing and had crowns of gold on their heads.

God's grace gathers this vast crowd for blessing on the very day when judgments are falling on the world. That grace calls out a burst of praise in heaven. The angels, the elders, and the four living creatures fall down and worship before the throne, giving God "blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might."

Compare this with the song of the angels in chapter 5. "The Lamb that was slain" is no longer the main object. No doubt Christ as man takes the kingdom by that title. But here the subject is not the title; it is the fact. The angels praise God because His kingdom is at last set up in open power and glory. And the rescue He has worked is what the palm-bearing crowd give thanks for.

All this belonged to the white-robed crowd and the angels. Only the crowd speak of the Lamb, who was also their salvation. The angels add their Amen to this, but they praise their God. They had given glory and blessing to the Lamb before. But, of course, salvation to the Lamb was not their own part of the song.

The angels are moved to worship. They add their Amen when the crowd credits salvation to God and the Lamb. They do not experience salvation themselves, so they do not name it in their own sevenfold praise in verse 12. Though they do not share the salvation, they can see the excellence and glory of God in it. They give honour and power for all eternity to the One who has done it.

They watch with interest as the white-robed crowd honour God and the Lamb… So, having added their "Amen" to the crowd's praise, they worship their God, giving Him their sevenfold theme of praise (compare Revelation 5:12), and sealing it with another "Amen."

In both scenes the angels form the outer circle around the throne, while the elders and living creatures form inner circles… In the earlier scene the elders form the innermost circle; in the later the living creatures are nearest the throne. The difference is not hard to explain. In chapter 5 the Lamb is in full view, so the redeemed in heaven (the elders) gather around Him. Here God sits on His throne, the symbol of rule over all, and that explains the near place of the living creatures, who represent the throne's executive authority.

Neither of the last two take part in the celebration of praise. Only the Gentile crowd on earth and the angels in heaven do that… Chapters 4 and 5 show how the elders and living creatures stand in relation to God, so their worship belongs in those chapters, not here.

The Gentile crowd on earth had ascribed salvation to "our God," but He is also the God of angels. So they too, in their place in heaven, say "our God."… The terms in the angels' praise come in a different order from the list in chapter 5. There the last two terms, "glory and blessing," are the first named in our chapter. There the word is "riches"; here instead it is "thanksgiving."

As the book unfolds one revelation after another, and as their character deepens, the praise grows fuller. It is twofold in the first chapter; threefold in Revelation 4:11; fourfold in Revelation 5:13; and sevenfold in Revelation 7:12.

Besides, one of the elders raises the question and then gives us the answer. In this book the elders are always marked by their spiritual understanding, as we have noticed before. He asks: "What are these who are dressed in white robes? And where did they come from?" Do not these questions at once distinguish them? The elder does not say, Who are we? but, What are these? and where did they come from?

Note how strange such a question is, and how much stranger John's inability to answer. But he had seen another company in heaven. They still kept their place before his eyes, and they had sung the new song, with fuller praise at that. No one had raised any question about them at all. You would think he could work out who these were — and one of those elders was now speaking to him!

But one of the elders explains to the prophet who the white-robed crowd are. The elders always have understanding from God. This crowd was no part of the prophetic revelation up to now, and it was not the church's own place. "Sir, you know," says the prophet. They had come out of the great tribulation, faithful in it, their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

They are certainly not all the saints, because we have seen the hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel expressly distinguished from them. They are a crowd of Gentiles whom God's gracious power will keep safe in these last days. Not a word implies that they were glorified here, and there is no reason to doubt that they were still in their natural bodies. The words "before the throne" cannot overturn the many proofs that they are alive on the earth.

First, then, they have come out of the great tribulation. It is not only great, as older English versions put it, but pointedly the great tribulation... It is not the same thing as "Jacob's trouble," though it is surely connected with it, if it does not spring out of it. It will happen during the three and a half years of antichrist's terrible rule. "The great tribulation" refers to the oppression and persecution the Gentiles will have to pass through.

In God's purpose the blood of the Lamb was shed from the foundation of the world. That blood is the only basis for appearing before the throne of God, and it is enough. "Therefore," or on this account, "are they before the throne," that is, because of the blood. The blood made these sinners saints; the tribulation made them sufferers.

They have renounced the thought of any proper whiteness in their robes except that produced by the blood of the Lamb. On this ground they are as we, and we are as they.

The blood of the Lamb is the basic and effective cause of all their blessing. But the white robes may show that they were morally fit for their position. They had kept up practical holiness.

Our consciences are purged, but we want our robes washed too. That company is fit outwardly as well as inwardly. One might have a cleansed conscience, but a soiled robe. A believer ought not to allow a spot. Your robes are to be spotlessly white as you go along — fit to walk with the Lord.

"Therefore," or on this account, "are they before the throne," that is, because of the blood. The blood made these sinners saints; the tribulation made them sufferers.

Not their sufferings have washed their robes white, but the Lamb's blood: and here again, though the expression is unusual, they stand on common ground with saints at all times.

Their place is "before the throne." We believe this phrase shows where they stand morally and spiritually: God brings them into close touch with Himself. They also have a priest's place, since they serve Him day and night in His temple.

They are not only like Israel in the courts, or the nations in the world; they have a priest's place in the world's temple. The millennial multitudes are worshippers — these are priests. Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, was always in the temple itself. Like her, they serve day and night there, and they always have access to the throne.

Yet it cannot be literally in Israel's millennial temple, for a number beyond counting could never be there. It speaks instead of the vital work of the Spirit of God in their hearts. That work makes them God's servants in His temple at all times, in a spiritual way.

They are saved Gentiles of that future day. They are never said to be "around the throne," still less to be enthroned themselves. They are not only before the throne of God; the verse also says they "serve him day and night in his temple." This separates them from the bride, the new Jerusalem, where there is no temple and no night. God will bring them very near to Himself in great favour, but on earth.

The presence of the temple shows it is not the church. Yet these saints will have the advantage over those who are born in the millennium. They have had to go through the great tribulation, and there they have learned most blessed experiences of God.

God spread His tabernacle over the tent of meeting of old. That tent became the centre and rest of the thousands of Israel. It covered them in the desert. The huge canopy God spread over them sheltered two and a half million people from scorching sun and winter storms. They were a picture of the Lord's redeemed host. It was the nation's glory and defence… In the eternal state the tabernacle of God is with men. In millennial times God's tabernacle will be over them.

This sets forth the gracious shelter of God's care and goodness. This matters. God now dwells by the Holy Spirit in the church as His habitation. It will not be so when God calls these Gentiles into the enjoyment of His favour. He will grant what is more suited to their character and state — His protection.

They are certainly not all the saints. We have already seen the hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel clearly marked out as a separate group... Who are they, and what are they? They are a crowd of Gentiles whom God's gracious power will keep safe in these last days. Nothing here says they were glorified, and there is no reason to doubt that they were still in their natural bodies. Saying that they are "before the throne" cannot overturn the many proofs that they are alive on the earth.

When they went through the tribulation they were hungry, they were thirsty, and they were in the burning heat. So their blessing matches what they have suffered. I think there is practical teaching in that for us. How far we have found the Lord Jesus with us in our trials will be the basis of our blessing and worship, now and in the future. That is why our journey through this world matters so much.

There is no doubt that this points to the days of Christ's thousand-year reign on earth (see Isa. 49:10). These strong negatives assure the saved Gentile crowd that the hardships of life — hunger and thirst, persecution and tribulation, sun and burning heat — will never again be their sad lot. Past evils will not come back.

They also had blessings under the Lamb, to whom they too give the credit for their salvation. He is the good Shepherd who was cast out, and who had Himself passed through tribulation just as great. He would feed them. They would not hunger any more or thirst any more, as they had often done, and neither persecution nor tribulation would reach them.

These are blessed promises, but promises fitted for an earthly rather than a heavenly people. In the eternal state "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore" (Rev. 21:4). Then tears and sorrow, pain and death are gone for good. The blessings of this Gentile crowd are more a matter of being spared trouble and kept safe from evil. To an earthly people just rescued from suffering, but still in the place where they suffered, this promise is full of grace. Yet it hardly suits those living in the Father's house.

The description is not limited to their blessing in the coming kingdom on earth. It goes on into eternity, since all who are born again will one day share what verses 16 and 17 promise: no hunger, no thirst, no scorching heat, and every tear wiped away from their eyes... All of this shows that God's purposes stand, however great the trial of the Tribulation may be.

Peace, plenty and security characterise the portion of the Lord's beloved flock... This beautiful passage shows how deeply the Lord delights in the sealed remnant of the Gentiles. It will come literally true during the thousand-year reign of Christ for all who are faithful to "the King of glory"... But it is also true now, in a spiritual sense, of every sheep and lamb in the highly favoured flock of Christ... Our rest and plenty are not natural and worldly, but spiritual and heavenly.

I confess to you that I think such a promise is much more exactly suited to a people about to be on the earth than to men in a glorified state above. What would be the point of promising glorified people that they will not hunger or thirst any more? If it is said to a people on earth, we can all understand the comfort of its assurance.

The Lamb "in the midst of the throne," exercising its power and expressing in Himself its majesty, will graciously provide for every need. This is not the angelic and providential care we know now (Hebrews 1:14). It is the shepherd grace of the Lamb at work — tending, caring, preserving, and guiding each and all of the redeemed Gentile multitude.

They had blessings under the Lamb too, and they also ascribe their salvation to Him. He is the good Shepherd who was cast out. He had passed through tribulation Himself, tribulation just as great, and He would feed them... For us the promise is a well of water springing up into everlasting life and flowing out as a river. Theirs is not that. They would be fed, refreshed, and perfectly cared for by the grace of the Lamb whom they had followed... They would have the consolations of God, worth all the sorrows they had passed through. But their blessings are consolations, not proper heavenly joy.

He "shall lead them to fountains of waters of life," not to channels or springs merely, but to the sources of life. The fullness and joy of earthly blessing shall be theirs. The Lamb Himself will be their guide to these fountains, these sources of unmixed delight.

The deepest well of human happiness may soon run dry, but the "living fountains of waters" have their spring in the heart of God, which can never fail.

No words match the closing ones for depth and tenderness together: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Notice that it is God, not the Lamb. He is the One against whom they and we have sinned, and He Himself will remove the causes and occasions of sorrow. If He wipes away every tear they shall never weep again.

All this description is blessed, yet it seems to fall short of the full eternal blessing, and certainly short of what is heavenly. The impression given is that the earth's warfare is not yet over, and sin and evil are not completely banished. Yet they themselves are truly sheltered.

He who laid down His life for the sheep, and washed them from their sins in His own blood, now feeds them and leads them with His own hand. What grace! What gentleness! The very hand that was pierced for our sins protects and feeds us on our journey through the wilderness. That should fill our hearts with perfect confidence in our Shepherd, despite the many trials and difficulties of the way.

The seven-sealed book, or scroll, is in the open hand of Jehovah (5:1-2), and the Lamb opens its seals one by one… Now He opens the final one, and the book of God's counsels about the earth lies open before us. The plans and counsels of our God about the vast interests of earth are no longer a secret. Neither are the means and manner by which they will be carried out. All are disclosed. But why is the seventh seal separated from the preceding six?… A whole chapter (Rev. 7) comes in between the sixth and seventh seals, breaking the orderly sequence of events. The seventh seal opens the way to still further and severer judgments. Before it is opened, the veil is drawn aside, and two great companies out of Israel and the nations are brought into the scene — the fruit of a wide work of grace carried on even while judgment is devastating the earth.

When the seventh seal is opened, what follows is not the judgment that came with each of the earlier seals. It is silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. This surely shows how solemn the crisis is that has now arrived. It is, as it were, a divine pause before the last and most awful judgments fall on the inhabited world.

"Silence in heaven" does not mean that the songs and praises of the redeemed are silent. We must read the silence alongside the subject in hand, which is judgment… The course of judgment is halted. There is a pause both in the announcing and in the carrying out of further punishments… "Half an hour" means only a very brief period in which judicial action is held back. The breaking of the seventh seal brings not judgment, but an ominous silence. It is a calm before a storm, like a stillness in nature preceding a tempest.

There have been many guesses about what this "silence in heaven" can mean. Perhaps no one has suggested a better thought than this. Every intelligent being in heaven stood in solemn awe, because the Lord Himself was now about to go out in flaming fiery vengeance, to judge the world in righteousness, and to put all enemies under His feet.

The seventh seal must come after the sixth… There was a brief pause of solemn expectancy, the lull that comes before the storm about to blow… Heaven takes note of God's ways. The silence was there, not on earth. Signal judgments were hanging over all creation. How strange to imagine that silence in heaven for half an hour could picture the millennial rest!

The seventh seal was not so much a judgment in itself, as that which contained in it the seven trumpets, and was the signal for their sounding.

Divine judgment, when it falls, is not only sure but swift, yet it is never hurried. During this interval of silence the seven angels prepared themselves to sound their trumpets. There is a calm serenity about the divine action in judgment, and God postpones it to the last possible moment.

When the seventh seal is opened, the judgment that came with each earlier seal does not follow. Instead there is silence in heaven for half an hour. This surely shows how solemn the crisis is that has now come. It is a kind of divine pause before the last and most terrible judgments fall on the inhabited world. Then the seven angels who stood before God appear, and they receive seven trumpets. Notice that the trumpets grow out of the seventh seal.

These angels are clearly a distinguished and select group. The definite article shows it — "The seven angels." So does the honoured place given to them — "who stand before God." These seven are not the same as the seven who pour out the bowls (Rev. 15:1). Only about the trumpet angels is such a position stated: "before God."

There are distinctions among the angelic hosts. They are arranged in various orders and ranks, but all, from the archangel down to the least, are servants. They have no relationship to God founded on redemption. They are servants, and never rise out of that position, nor do they wish to. What the angel Gabriel said of himself — "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God" (Luke 1:19) — is said here of these seven angels who stand before God. As for the number seven, they represent the full power of God in judicial judgment.

Even the highest of God's creatures always stands in the place of subjection; the trumpets were given to them. Only the Creator has the right to act as sovereign. But why trumpets? No wind instrument was more widely used in the national life of Israel than the trumpet. It called them together in public assembly. Its loud blast summoned them to war, and directed them when to advance and when to retreat... Its loud warning notes announced that danger or an enemy was near... "The seven trumpets" mean a complete and full announcement. The mystic trumpets of Revelation must not be confused with the literal trumpets of Old Testament times.

The trumpet stands for a loud and solemn call from God. It is God summoning men. If they have rejected His grace, they must hear these sharp warnings of His judgment, even if they forget them. People might not have so easily seen the seals as God stepping in, if He had not told us beforehand that this is what they were... But when we come to the trumpets it is not so necessary to announce that they are heaven-sent judgments. Their sound or summons is quite plain and urgent. Their appeal to men is far clearer.

The judgments that follow are God's answer to the cry of His people. Yet they were in His heart for them before they ever cried. This is what the order teaches... So God prepares everything beforehand. Even so, He must be asked before He acts for them, and that is why we next have the prayers of all the saints going up to God. There is now a union of all hearts together: the common distress leads to united prayer.

"Another angel." Who is he? We are satisfied that the angel priest is Christ, our great High Priest. The service at the altars proves it, for both the bronze altar and the golden altar are named here. No mere creature could make the prayers of saints effective. Only One who has in Himself an independent right and ability could do that. Further, the action at the altars is the work of a mediator, standing between suffering, praying saints on earth and God. Since Christianity knows of only "one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5), the proof is undeniable that the angel priest is Christ and Christ alone, not a representative person or company, as some interpreters take it. The words "another angel" are used of Christ three times in these visions (Rev. 8:3; 10:1; 18:1). The title suggests reserve and distance. Under the trumpet judgments Christ steps back and takes an angel's title and character.

Wherever "the altar" appears with nothing added to describe it, I believe it always means the bronze altar — the first point of contact between God and people on earth. There the whole burnt offering was burned, along with the other sweet-smelling offerings. The fire was taken from there to make the incense rise from its own altar in the holy place… If the same altar were meant at the start of verse 3 as at the end, the full description would surely have come at the first mention, not the second.

The incense used in the tabernacle was made of four ingredients, listed in Exodus 30:34-36. It was mixed to a formula God gave. Anyone who made it or used it without God's permission was put to death… No doubt the four precious ingredients, three of which are named only once, show the moral beauties and perfections of Christ as seen in the four Gospels. But it needed the fire of judgment to draw out the full fragrance of Christ, and only the cross could do that.

Then another angel — Christ — comes and stands at the altar, and gives efficacy (this is, I believe, the force of it) to the prayers of the saints. It struck me, the other day, that when we see the saints as priests, they do not pray at all. But here, when Christ is priest, He adds incense and gives efficacy to the saints' prayers. These are suffering saints on earth.

The altar stands before the throne — not the mercy-seat here, but the throne of judgment. From this golden altar of incense the prayers of the remnant for deliverance and judgment rise to God, perfumed with all the fragrance of Christ, and draw down a speedy answer.

We are told that His incense is offered with "the prayers of all saints." May this not show that in these judgments we see an answer to the prayers of all the saints of Old Testament times, as well as those of the great tribulation?

There is always the happy thought that thousands of hearts may be quietly talking with God when even the eye of a prophet can find none. It is a great comfort to remember, too, that there is One at least who never grows tired of praying for all saints… His incense added to our prayers is what makes the weakest words of our faith rise with welcome from the altar of our worship (Rev. 8:3).

This scene is clearly in heaven, as marked by the golden altar and the throne. So the angel can be no one less than the great High Priest, the Mediator between God and His people. The prayers of all saints — saints on earth, of course — rise up to God on the golden altar. But it is the "Angel" adding the incense that makes their prayers effective.

The royal priests in Revelation 5 present the prayers of the saints as incense. The angel high-priest in Revelation 8 adds much incense to the prayers of all the saints. No creature could do that — only He could. Where would be the sense in adding the prayers of the saints to the prayers of the saints?

They are priests and offer the prayers, but they offer no prayer, no incense of their own. They add nothing and give efficacy to nothing.

In Revelation 8:4 the smoke of the incense going up is the sign that God approves of the incense.

The incense burned on the golden altar at the hour of prayer (Luke 1:10) stood for the perfect acceptance of Christ, which made the people's prayers effective. So it is in this picture. The altar stands before the throne — not the mercy-seat here, but the throne of judgment. From this golden altar of incense the prayers of the remnant rise to God, asking for deliverance and judgment. All the fragrance of Christ perfumes them, and they draw down a quick answer.

May this not show that in these judgments we see an answer to the prayers of all the saints of Old Testament days, as well as those of the great tribulation?

The effect of intercession in this case is to bring down judgment. There is something of mystery here. "The fire of the altar," the judgment of God which Christ suffered, is turned against the earth. What had been a burnt offering to God with a pleasing aroma becomes man's very judgment.

A priest, saints, an altar (both altars, as it seems to me), incense, the censer, and the fire are all here in their proper order. Yet all of it is communion with God as He chastises the earth. If the Lord is brought out at all, it is as an angel, not in His full dignity as the Son of God consecrated forever.

In themselves the praises are weak and cold. But the High Priest has "much incense" to offer with them, so they go up to God with all the energy and perfect acceptance of Christ. He Himself says, "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." Here is the Priest with the priestly family. He is not ashamed to call them brothers, and He leads their praises up to God. How this dignifies and elevates all true worship.

The angel here is Christ Himself, for He acts as priest. He presents the prayers of saints to God as a sweet aroma, and He adds a further abundance of incense to them. More than this: He also fills the censer with fire from the altar and casts it upon the earth (v. 5). No priest of the line of Aaron was ever called upon to do such a thing.

Burning coals from the altar go into the censer, and are cast down upon the earth. They come not from the golden altar of intercession, but from the bronze altar of judgment, where the consuming fire of God's righteousness always burns. How unsuited to God's present ways of grace! How suited to the coming day of judgment, and to the state of His oppressed and suffering saints then! The saints offer their prayers from that same censer, so the fire of God's righteous judgment matches those prayers in character as it is hurled down upon the earth.

Here intercession has the effect of bringing down judgment. There is something of mystery in it. "The fire of the altar" is the judgment of God which Christ suffered, and it is now turned against the earth. What had been a burnt offering to God, a sweet aroma, now becomes man's very judgment. These are not only acts of providence. They are religious dealings with the world. The opening of the seals brings out the counsels of God, while the trumpets announce God in judgment.

And what is the fire of the altar? Is it not that wrath of God which consumed the holy One made sin for us?... So those who have refused the mercy of God, which comes through the atoning death of Jesus on the altar, must endure that same wrath against sin. My reader, you and I must be either purified by that fire, or judged by that fire forever.

Some find it hard to believe that this fire means judgment, because it comes from the altar. They remember how a live coal from the altar cleansed Isaiah's lips. They cannot see how fire that has fed on the sacrifice can still be wrath against people. But this is easily answered. Where the heart turns to God, that is certainly true. It is in no way true for those who do not turn. For them there is no sacrifice that avails. Instead it pleads against those who reject it. The cross did not set aside the wrath of God against sin. The cross showed that wrath to be an awful reality. And where the precious blood has not cleansed from sin, the wrath of God rests all the more heavily on those who slight it.

The angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. He did this as an answer to the prayers of the saints. That is, God is pleased to associate His saints with Himself even in His ways of judgment... They are the saints left on earth after the Church has been caught up to heaven. They are the remnant who appear so often in the Psalms, praying for vengeance on their enemies.

Today God is acting in sovereign grace. Those who have the mind of heaven pray for the salvation of sinners, and God answers their prayers by blessing souls. In the day to come, God will be acting in judgment. Those who have His mind will then be right to use the Psalms that call down judgment on enemies.

There were lightnings and voices and thunders in Rev. 4, but there is more now. Besides those we find an earthquake added. The effect among men becomes more intense.

Earthquakes point to the upheaval of the lower masses of society, overthrowing the social system either partly or completely.

Specific judgments were ready to follow, and the seven angels prepare to sound. This is how God's ways and dealings with His saints connect. Everything is ready for judgment. But they, however weak, represent God on the earth. So the wicked aim their wickedness at them, and that wickedness must be judged. Their cry brings the judgment. Christ offers up that cry with all the value of the incense He can add to it.

But why trumpets? No wind instrument was more widely used in the national life of Israel than the trumpet. It called them together in public assembly. Its loud blast called them to war. It told them when to advance and when to retreat… Its loud warning notes announced that danger or an enemy was near… Both Joel and John speak of the blast of the trumpet. It shows that God is about to punish the sin before Him, openly and in front of everyone — a public and loud announcement that He is about to do so. "The seven trumpets" mean a complete and full announcement.

In general the seals seem to reach further, but the blows were not so severe. With most of the trumpets it is a third part that is struck. So the trumpets may reach less far, but they prove more intensely judicial than the seals… The very name shows a difference. The trumpet represents a loud and solemn call of God. It is God summoning men; for if they have rejected His grace, they must hear — even if they forget — these sharp warnings of His judgment. Unless God had told us beforehand, we might not so readily have seen the seals as acts of God… But with the trumpets there is less need to say that they are judgments sent from heaven. Their sound or summons is quite plain and urgent. They appeal to men far more unmistakably.

"Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them." These seven angels do not themselves carry out the judgments they announce. The four judgment angels (Rev. 9:14) are not the same as the seven trumpet angels.

God's judgment, when it falls, is not only certain but swift. Yet it is never hurried. During this silence the seven angels "prepared to blow" their trumpets. There is a calm serenity about God's action in judgment. He puts it off to the last possible moment.

We are not to take these things only in their obvious or physical sense. Suppose you take something like a mountain falling into the sea (verse 8) literally. Would that ever turn the water into blood? Nothing of the sort. The fact is that these were pictures that passed before the eyes of the prophet. What the figures meant we have to gather from the general tenor of the word, by the teaching of the Spirit.

We can also look at the sounding of the seven trumpets as a section of its own. It runs from the sixth verse of chapter 8 to the end of chapter 11… Notice too what happens at the seventh trumpet. There are lightnings, voices, thunderings and an earthquake. The Lord Jesus comes out in glory with His saints, to take the kingdom and judge the world in righteousness. The voices in heaven say, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever."

The trumpet sets forth a loud and solemn call of God. It is God summoning men. If they have rejected His grace, they must hear these sharp warnings of His judgment, even if they forget them. We might not so easily have seen the seals as God stepping in, unless He had told us beforehand that this is what they were... With the trumpets there is less need to say that they are heaven-sent judgments. Their sound or summons is quite plain and urgent.

The seals in general appear to have a larger extent, but the blows were not so severe... The trumpets, then, may be less extensive in their range, but it will later be clear that they are more intensely judicial than the seals.

Hail signifies a sudden, sharp, and overwhelming judgment from above, with God carrying it out (see Isa. 28:2, 17; Rev. 11:19; Rev. 16:21). Fire is the expression of God's wrath... Fire stands for thorough, unsparing, agonising judgment... Blood signifies death, both physical and moral. Moral death would take the form of apostasy — a complete abandonment of revealed truth, all religious profession given up.

Hail with fire is one of the most solemn pictures of God's judgment that nature gives us. It was one of the plagues of Egypt... Cold, like darkness, stands for God withdrawing. Fire, which is both heat and light, stands for the glow of His presence — and against sin that presence is wrath. The two can come together, however contradictory they seem: "hailstones and coals of fire" poured out at once. When God forsakes, it is always in anger. So what would have refreshed becomes a storm of judgment. There is a concord of contraries against those that cast off God; as for those who love Him, all things work together for good.

In both cases (vv. 5 and 7) the term "cast" implies irresistible power behind. The judgment of the hail and fire with blood cannot be traced to natural causes. They were cast down. They did not fall from the heavens in an ordinary way — an unseen but powerful arm drove them... The earth here means the part of the world that is civilised and under settled, established government.

You will notice that the third part keeps coming up in these divine visitations. What is the prophetic meaning of "the third"? The answer seems to be given us in Rev. 12 (that is, the distinctively Roman or western empire)... If this is so, "the third" would mean the varied wasting away of the Roman empire in the west... One able writer contends for the Greek or Eastern Empire, because the Macedonian was the third of the four great empires of Dan. 2 and Dan. 7. But "the third part" is quite another thought and phrase.

This clearly does not refer to the literal earth, trees, or grass. In Scripture grass is the symbol commonly used for man in his weakness, his very glory being like the flower of grass. Human prosperity, then, would be set forth by green grass. Here we have a judgment of God upon it. Not a certain part only, however large, but the whole of it is destroyed. The trees represent those who are high and exalted among men... So the blow falls on one marked-off part of the scene of God's moral dealings. All the lowly feel the ruin, and the higher classes feel it to a large extent.

The burning up of "all green grass" may refer to the withering of the means of support; or, if grass is here used as a figure of man in his frailty, it indicates a destruction of the choicest and most vigorous portion of the human race, such as the wholesale slaughter of young men called out to serve in war.

In the first trumpet, we see hail, fire, and blood cast on the earth, and some trees and all green grass burnt up. In the second trumpet, a great mountain, as it were — that is, something similar to a great burning mountain — is cast into the sea. In the first trumpet, the earth, trees and grass are affected; in the second, the sea, its creatures and its ships. Both are fiery, burning judgments.

The judgments fall on things rather than men. Yet the things listed — earth, trees, grass, sea and creatures in it, ships, rivers, fountains, sun, moon, stars — are not moral beings, and so are not accountable to God. Man is the rebel sinner who has to be dealt with. The things are symbols of man and of what is connected with him.

"Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the LORD, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain." The LORD speaks against the Chaldean kingdom. It looked so firmly established in its might and greatness that no one could overthrow it. Yet He threatens it with consuming judgment, a "burnt mountain." … A mountain as a symbol represents a kingdom or a firmly established power. The key idea in these prophetic symbols is a strong, solid, established power. And this power is itself the target of God's governmental vengeance.

A mountain is the usual symbol of high, settled power. But here it is thrown into the sea, because it becomes the means of judgment to others, and not just the object of judgment itself.

A great mountain speaks of a great governing power, while burning with fire points to a fearsome character of oppression. Thrown into the sea speaks of God's own sovereign power inflicting this scourge upon the nations (the sea of the Gentiles). The waters of the sea speak of "peoples and multitudes and nations and languages" (Revelation 17:15).

First, all through the peoples (the sea) of the Roman earth, the "blood," the "deathful power of evil," prevails. A third part of the creatures in the sea that had life died. As another writer has put it, "I take dying here to be departure from the profession of association with God, public separation from Him, or apostasy." Unbelief and atheism always flourish in times of great disturbance, social earthquakes and revolutions.

Does blood here symbolise a violent natural death, or does it refer to the spiritual death of apostasy? In our judgment these two forms of death are here combined.

This trumpet seems to foretell the overwhelming destruction of a great world power. In its fall it will bring ruin and death on a third part of the nations. The destruction of the ships brings trade to a standstill, and so they lose their means of living.

The language is still highly symbolic. A feature common to each is that the judgments only fall on a third part of the things affected. This shows that for the moment the effects are not universal but limited. The phrase "the third part" occurs again in Revelation 12:4, where the Roman Empire is in question. So here it points to the Roman earth: practically the western European powers, or, we may say, Christendom.

In the judgment of the second trumpet John saw "something like a great mountain, burning with fire," thrown into the sea. In Scripture a mountain pictures a great and long-established power. So Scripture calls Babylon a "destroying mountain," and the LORD says to her, "I will roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain" (Jer. 51:25). The sea never stops moving, so it often pictures the nations in a state of unrest (see Rev. 17:15).

It is a power that is mighty, seated firmly and lifted high, yet full of volcanic forces in conflict. These will tear out her own insides and spread ruin all around. Thrown into the sea of the nations — already in commotion, as the word "sea" implies — this power produces death and disaster beyond that of the previous trumpet. It attacks human life more directly. Such a state of eruption was in France at the end of the eighteenth century, and it may well illustrate what seems intended. History is full of such warnings of what is coming, and we do well to take note of them. We may expect this all the more as the end approaches. Things grow towards it, and at last it takes by surprise those who have not heeded the warning.

The ever-restless sea is here the chosen figure for the peoples of the earth in terrible anarchy. They have no strong controlling power or firm hand over them. God ordains civil and governmental authority (Rom. 13:1). So the prophetic sea stands for the general state of the nations with no civil or spiritual government. Into these seething masses of mankind this burning power is cast.

Persons, and not peoples or nations in general as in the first judgment, are in question. The term "creatures" would imply as much... Moral, spiritual death is the undoubted force of the judgment carried out here. It is death towards God, and death towards the principles of truth and righteousness. In fact, it is moral death in its widest sense.

A great power that seemed settled is removed from its place. That power is not so much shattered itself as made the means of suffering to others. It is burning with fire, and the result is destruction to a third of the living creatures and ships in the sea. The whole thing is a figure taken from what a volcano would do if it were cast into the sea. In this way the Lord fills out the picture of destruction. A great consuming power falls on confused masses of people, and the result is human slaughter and political anarchy.

This trumpet appears to foretell the overwhelming destruction of a great world power. Its fall will bring ruin and death on a third of the nations. The destruction of the ships brings commerce to a standstill, and so destroys the way they make their living.

A feature common to each is that the judgments fall only on a third part of the things affected. This shows that for the moment the effects are not universal but limited. The phrase "the third part" occurs again in Revelation 12:4, where the Roman Empire, energised by Satan, is in question. This leads to the conclusion that here it shows the Roman earth — in practice the western European powers, or perhaps we may say, Christendom.

The trumpets may reach less far than the seals. But it will appear later that they strike with heavier judgment.

A star is the symbol of authority in government. It is not supreme authority — the sun stands for that — but authority held under another. So the very picture used shows a man who should have been a source of light and order to people. But he falls "from heaven," from the place where God had set him, for God appoints the powers that rule. By that fall he is now cut off from all connection with God. Yet he still burns — not as a star now, but as a lamp — and so he still attracts people by his light and brightness.

The Heaven is the source of authority, a fixed position; all spiritual, civil, and political authority has its source above… Under the two trumpets before this, the instruments of judgment were "cast" upon the earth and the sea. Here this apostate ruler "fell" out of the Heaven. "Cast" would imply that an unseen actor used irresistible power, and that the judgment was violent. "Fell" points rather to a sudden, unexpected downfall.

Waters are the symbol of peoples with no settled shape. Fountains are the sources of their refreshment, and a river stands for what marks the course they take… This blow seems less political than the judgment before it. It is rather the poisoning of everything that ought to bring blessing to people and that touches their ordinary life.

The name "Wormwood" shows his character… Everyone under the withering influence of this fallen being shares his character, "Wormwood." There is a reference here to that striking event in Israel's history told in Exodus 15:22-25. There God made the bitter waters sweet; here the sweet waters become bitter… It poisons their springs of action — their motives, principles, and moral life.

The heavens are the sphere of government, whether civil or spiritual, so this could point to a ruler of either kind… Yet the fall from heaven and the poisoning of the sources of refreshment seem to point much more strongly to an apostate teacher. His fall turns the springs of spiritual truth bitter, and people perish… They refused to love the truth and so be saved, so God sends them a strong delusion and they believe what is false. Here would seem to be the beginning of this.

It is some person who claimed authority and then becomes an apostate. His fall produces the awful results given here. It may be the final Antichrist. He may first have claimed to be a great teacher for Israel with divine authority, and then he takes the awful plunge.

He corrupts the truth of God by his poisonous teaching (1 John 2:22). Many die through it — not in body, but by falling away, so that they become dead to any recognition of the living God.

One would think that such mighty displays of divine power would soften people's hearts. But it is not so… Love, God's own love to man as a sinner, in the cross of Christ, alone breaks and captivates the human heart.

A star, as we saw in an earlier chapter in another connection (Revelation 1:20), pictures someone who holds a lower place of authority. He may give light to others. He is under another himself, but he still rules. Here it is a degraded ruler, a dignitary fallen from his place of authority. Waters are the symbol of peoples not yet formed. Fountains are the sources of their refreshment, and a river is what gives their course its character.

But he falls "from heaven," out of the place where God had set him — for God appoints the powers that exist. His fall now cuts him off from all connection with God. Yet he still burns, not as a star but as a lamp, so he still attracts people by his light and brightness. He falls on all the sources of life, the moral sources, pictured by the rivers and fountains of waters. You can often see this when someone prominent in the church of God turns unfaithful or apostate and morally destroys his hearers by unbelieving teaching.

His name was Wormwood. Deuteronomy 29:19-20 speaks of the man who hears the curses of the law and says, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst." Scripture compares him to a root that bears gall and wormwood. See also the immoral woman of Proverbs 5:4, and Jeremiah 23:15. In Jeremiah 9:15, wormwood seems to be the bitter result of disobedience — even the scattering among the nations. Here, as in Amos 5:7, "You who turn justice to wormwood," it seems to mean the corruption of the waters, and the death of those who drank them.

The name "Wormwood" points to character... The fountains, the sources of national life, are poisoned. All who come under the withering influence of this fallen being share his character, "Wormwood." There is a clear reference here to a striking incident in Israel's history, told in Exodus 15:22-25. There the bitter waters were made sweet; here the sweet waters are made bitter.

The heavens are the sphere of government, whether civil or spiritual, so a ruler of either kind might be meant here... Yet the fall from heaven, the poisoning of the sources of refreshment, and the connection with the sixth trumpet — a parallel, if not something deeper — seem to point much more strongly to an apostate teacher. His fall would embitter the springs of spiritual truth and cause men to perish... People have not received the love of the truth so that they might be saved. So God will send them a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie. Here would seem to be the beginning of this.

The language stays highly symbolic. One feature is common to each judgment: it falls only on a third part of the things affected. This shows that for the moment the effects are not universal but limited.

One would think that such mighty displays of divine power would soften people's hearts. But it is not so... Love, God's own love to man as a sinner, in the cross of Christ, alone breaks and captivates the human heart.

It is the governments of the earth that are affected by the sound of the fourth trumpet (v. 12), and no form of it escapes. As pointed out before, the sun is a symbol of supreme authority. The moon stands for authority derived from the supreme, just as the moon takes her light from the sun and reflects it. The stars just as plainly speak of what is subordinate. Sun, moon, and stars, therefore, express every order of human authority in government… The effect is that confusion and darkness reign instead of peace and security. Little do men realise how much they owe to orderly and stable governments.

The day does not shine in a third part of the sphere of its rule, and neither does the night, in its moon and stars. This would certainly not be the natural result of darkening a third part of sun and moon. It shows us that we do not have here a literal event of the kind described, but figures of other things. Royal or imperial authority has collapsed, along with all the lesser powers that depend on it, within such limits as a "third part" may mark out; and with this, the first series of the trumpets ends.

The language stays deeply symbolic. A feature common to each is that the judgments only fall on a third part of the things affected. For the moment the effects are not universal but limited. The phrase "the third part" occurs again in Revelation 12:4, where the Roman Empire, energised by Satan, is in question. This leads to the conclusion that here it means the Roman earth.

Under the sixth Seal (Rev. 6:12-13) the same symbols express a total collapse of all governing authority on earth. There, however, nothing restricts the breakdown of the whole social fabric and the overthrow of every seat of power… Here under the fourth Trumpet the judgment and its effects reach the "third part" of the prophetic scene, the western part of the revived empire. The term "third part" occurs five times in this one verse (v. 12). The effect of this judgment is that moral darkness settles down on the empire like a funeral shroud.

The public course of things was thrown into confusion and darkness, the day darkened in its sunlight. But more than that, the private and hidden life of man lost the light that guided it. There was darkness and stumbling. There was no perception of God's will, and no way or light to walk by that human understanding could use.

Of course this cannot be literal. The sun (which is the supreme source of light to the earth) speaks of the light of the glory of God. So this darkening speaks of people being plunged into the darkness of atheism, not seeing the sun. They become closed even to the reflected light of the moon and the stars. The light of heavenly testimony is gone from the whole kingdom of the beast.

We have had the preliminary judgments brought in by the first four trumpets… and last of all, the whole fabric of political rule, both supreme and subordinate, has to suffer a notable eclipse. So it was a judgment of circumstances, not a judgment falling on people themselves. But we also see a closing hint of still deeper blows. They are marked off in the clearest way from the series that came before: "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth!"

I believe John saw an eagle here. In Revelation 14:6 it is an angel, and our verse may have been made to match that one. Or perhaps the two words were simply confused by carelessness. The eagle's flight in mid-heaven was the dark and most fitting herald of coming woe. Nor is there any real difficulty in its loud utterance; for the altar itself is, in the true text, made to speak in Revelation 16:7.

Both the eagle and the angel are messengers. Both are seen flying across the sky so as to scan the earth, even to its farthest bounds, and to proclaim their message aloud. The flying eagle is a herald of judgment, the flying angel is a messenger of mercy.

Judgment is about to fall on these "inhabitants of the earth." The eagle that announces the woes probably stands for the speed with which the blows will descend. For "while people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them." When God begins to judge, He makes short work of the earth.

The first four trumpet judgments dealt mainly with the circumstances of life. The trees, the rivers, the sun, moon, and stars stand for these. The last three trumpet judgments are more severe and terrible, since, as we shall see, they fall on people rather than on their circumstances. They bring woe to that special class called dwellers upon the earth. These are the people who, like Cain, go out from the presence of the Lord and try to build a world without God.

Woe is then announced. It falls above all on those who had their settled place on earth, unlike those with the heavenly calling. The judgments on the earth neither woke them nor moved them. They clung to the earth as their home despite everything. Threefold woe! The term "dwellers on," or "inhabitants of," the earth has not appeared before this, apart from the promise to Philadelphia and the cry of the souls under the altar. Both of those stood in contrast with such people. After all these dealings of God they are a distinct and clearly marked class.

It is a class who profess the light outwardly. They even admit that the testimony in the word of God is true, both to the present grace of the gospel and to the coming judgment on the world. Still, their interests lie entirely on the earth. There may be an actual crisis, as there surely will be, when this is plainly shown. Yet as a principle it is of the deepest practical importance to see how God regards "dwellers on the earth."

Then the fifth trumpet, or first woe judgment, falls on a Judaism that has turned away from God. It is the subject of Revelation 9:1-11. The sixth trumpet, or second woe judgment, deals with the guilty inhabitants of the Roman earth, who have also abandoned God. That is the burden of Revelation 9:12-21. The final blast of the trumpet, or third woe, touches the whole world. In the end it reaches to the close of the thousand-year kingdom reign, even to "the time for the dead to be judged."

At the sound of the fifth trumpet a star appears — not falling, as the older common translation puts it, but already fallen from heaven to earth. This seems to connect him with the apostasy under the third trumpet. And no one else's apostasy is likely to be as notable as the apostasy of the man whose course is recorded here. In any case, it is certainly an apostate who stands before us, and to him is given "the key of the abyss."

The star fallen from heaven to earth is a dignitary in an apostate state. This points to a real person, as the next words show — "to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss." The allusion to Isaiah 14:12 seems clear. There the king of Babylon is taunted: "How you are fallen, O Lucifer [that is, day-star], son of the morning… Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." What is in view here is not his doom, but the authority he was permitted to exercise over the abyss. The abyss is the expression of the source of satanic evil and misery.

The star fallen from heaven with the key of the pit of the abyss is Satan himself, cast out of heaven. The details of this event we learn in the twelfth chapter.

In the Old Testament a "pit" is often another word for a dungeon, and everything points to that meaning here. The "abyss" is not something other than the pit itself. It only defines it further — the dungeon which is the abyss. So the demons beg not to be sent into the deep, or "abyss" (Luke 8:31), and in the twentieth chapter Satan is shut up there… The abyss is not "hell," the "lake of fire." We can see this from one passage (Romans 10:7), which uses the word in connection with the Lord: "Who will descend into the abyss?" — that is, to bring Christ up from the dead… The literal meaning ("bottomless") must not be pressed, as our own use of the word shows.

Revelation 9:1 makes it clear that Satan does not have absolute control to do as he pleases, for the key of the bottomless pit is not in his hand. The star that fell from heaven was given the key for the time being, but the key did not belong to him. For a limited time this star — some great intellectual or spiritual leader — was allowed to bring up influences from the regions below. Those influences would bring delusion and trouble on all who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

The key of the bottomless pit was given to him. God permits Satan to act. Sometimes this is for the good of His children. Sometimes it is to let His judgments fall on His enemies. Satan and his angels are glad to seize an opportunity to do evil. God is coming here to chastise the wickedness of men.

Under the fifth trumpet this fallen ruler is about to let loose the malignant and darkening power of Satan on the apostate part of Judah. Apostate Gentiles are the ones judged under the third trumpet; apostate Jews are the sufferers under the fifth. The state of things under this first woe goes beyond anything we have seen so far. Direct satanic influence and power drive the agents and instruments of evil.

In the Old Testament a "pit" is often a word for a dungeon, and everything here points to that meaning. The "abyss" is not something other than the pit itself. It is only a further definition of it — the dungeon which is the abyss. So the demons pray that they may not be sent into the deep, or "abyss" (Luke 8:31). In the twentieth chapter Satan is shut up there... The abyss is not, however, "hell" — the "lake of fire." ... The literal meaning, "bottomless," must not be pressed. We use the word loosely ourselves, and the Greek word was used in the same way. The Greek Old Testament uses it for the "deep" over which darkness lay on the first day.

He has "the key of the pit of the abyss." This is the unfathomable or bottomless pit, where evil is held back until it receives its final doom. Here "the spirits in prison" are kept (1 Peter 3:19). Here Satan will be shut up for a thousand years, before his last rebellion and everlasting punishment. Here too the angels who sinned are "committed to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment." (2 Peter 2:4.)

If the four earlier judgments were providential, though God inflicted them as acts of judgment, this one is different. It is still under God's control, but its origin and its nature are satanic.

God permits Satan to act sometimes for the good of His children, sometimes to let His judgments fall on His enemies. Satan and his angels are glad to seize an opportunity to do evil. God is coming here to chastise the wickedness of men.

The smoke rising like the smoke of a great furnace is the symbol of a delusion which darkens the mind of man.

Here, in Revelation 9, I take the smoke to express two things. First, that the place it comes from is under judgment. Second, the darkening tendency of what will proceed from there, as the parent or nurse of the locusts issuing from it. The smoke is "like the smoke of a great furnace," which I take to express the fullness of its volume. The result was that the sun and the air were darkened by it.

This means a satanic delusion bred in the abyss, marked by the way it blinds and withers people morally. It is probably the same delusion to which Christendom will be given over, which Paul speaks of (2 Thess. 2:11-12). The smoke is the darkening influence and power of Satan. Its effect will be to blight the supreme government (the sun). It will also darken and corrupt the whole social life and principles of men (the air).

What the smoke exactly represents may be hard to say, but its source and effect are clear. It shuts man off from all that he needs for his moral and spiritual welfare. It is Satan's smoke today that hides the word of God from the souls of men. They breathe it instead of the pure influences of the Scriptures, and so become morally poisoned and tormented.

Christ has "the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:18). We cannot imagine that He would hand over any part of His own authority to an apostate, whether man or spirit… In fact, the text does not even say that the locusts come out of the pit. Nothing comes out of it but the smoke that darkens the sun and the air. The locusts come out of the smoke… The smoke here is not the smoke of torment, as it is elsewhere. It is the fumes of harmful spiritual influences that darken the air and the supreme source of light itself. We can easily understand that the locusts are bred out of that darkness.

The locusts that come out of the smoke are a picture of aggressive robbers, and they are clothed with a remarkable power of torment, like the scorpions of the earth. The command given shows very plainly, I think, the error of those who take the locusts literally. They were not to hurt the grass of the earth, and so on — that is, their natural food, if real locusts were meant.

The intense anguish caused by these hordes of satanic instruments and agents is like the torment of a scorpion's poisonous sting. The scorpion shuns the light, and the native peoples of Africa and the Arab tribes of Asia rightly dread it. The sting is not often fatal, but the suffering is dreadful… In Luke 10:19 the Lord connects serpents, scorpions, and the power of the enemy with the fall of Satan. Here, in the same way, scorpions are linked with the fallen star.

If the four earlier judgments were providential, though inflicted judicially by God, this one, while still under God's control, is diabolical in its origin and nature.

Their power fits their origin: it is pictured as the power of the scorpions of the earth — that is, their poisonous sting. Their difference from natural locusts shows here. They do not touch the locusts' food. They are a plague only on men, and only on the unsealed among them. Since it is in Israel that the sealing is found, the fair inference is that these unsealed ones are Israelites, and the place of this plague is in the east.

This evil teaching is pictured as a swarm of locusts that sweeps everything before it with irresistible power, leaving misery in its trail. Natural locusts would destroy the grass and every green thing, and strip the trees. But the evil influence set out by these symbolic locusts will not touch people's circumstances in life, or even their bodies. It poisons their minds, just as a scorpion poisons the body.

The command given shows, I think very plainly, the error of those who take the locusts in a literal way. They were not to hurt the grass of the earth, and so on — that is, their natural food, if real locusts were meant. Men were to be the objects of these symbolic raiders — men, except God's sealed ones.

The whole description shows that the locust army is a symbolic picture of judgment of a superhuman kind. So does the ban on injuring the grass and trees, their natural food. There is a further reason why the plant world was to be spared. The grass, "any green plant," and trees point to a general state of prosperity in men's circumstances and position.

Their power is limited. This command settles two things. First, as already said, these are moral, not real, locusts. Natural locusts ravage exactly the plants and trees of the earth. Second, the target of this dreadful visitation is apostate Jews. Revelation 7 tells us that the servants of God, sealed on their foreheads, are the elect of the twelve tribes. So those not sealed would be Jews outside that elect number. Later parts of this book make it clear that these unsealed Jews will be, mostly if not entirely, in Jerusalem and Palestine. That fixes both the sphere and the character of the judgment.

Perhaps the double name in Hebrew and Greek shows that their power will be over Jews and Gentiles.

With the seal we have the idea of God's property, His ownership, and it also carries the meaning of security. If God has put His seal on a man, everyone can see it, because it is on the forehead. Then even these evil powers will not touch him. This mark is the exact opposite of the mark of the beast. People will accept the mark of the beast in order to survive, and that is the opposite of faith.

"The seal of the living God" implies safety from death. The seal on the forehead is a public, open acknowledgment that those sealed belong to God. What the seal is, we are not told.

We learn, second, that God governs the world with His people in view. The angel coming up from the east told the four angels not to hurt the earth, the sea, or the trees, "until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." It was the same when judgment was about to fall on Jerusalem. The Lord had a mark set on the foreheads of the men who sighed and cried over all the detestable things done in it. He kept this faithful remnant safe while the punishment swept through.

These locusts have the poison of scorpions. The natural locust feeds on every green thing, but these were only to afflict the unsealed among men. Their torment is like the sting of a scorpion, which is very sharp but does not usually kill. There is a limit to the length of this affliction — five months.

Second, we have the extent to which the judgment can go. Satan was allowed to persecute Job, but not to take his life. In the same way these symbolic locusts, these agents from the bottomless pit, are not allowed to take the lives of their victims. They may only put them through such extreme torture for a limited period (five months) that their victims will long for death and not get it.

In Luke 10:19 the Lord connects serpents, scorpions, and the power of the enemy with the fall of Satan. But these hellish instruments of vengeance, let loose on guilty Israel, have no power unless they are given authority to act.

They do not kill, just as the scorpion in general does not. They inflict torment so bad that death would be better. Their power lasts five months.

The whole description shows that this locust army is a symbol of judgment of a superhuman kind. So does the ban on injuring the grass and trees (v. 4), their natural food.

These had the poison of scorpions. The natural locust preys on every green thing, but these were only to afflict people who had no seal. This points us back to the opening verses of Revelation 7. There we find that those who were sealed were the servants of God out of the tribes of Israel.

The next two verses (vv. 5, 6) give the nature, duration, and effect of this judgment. The "locusts" were not permitted to kill, only to torment... We are not told what kind of torment this is, whether mental or otherwise. But if, as we conclude, these "locusts" are demonic agents, the seat of the torment would be the soul rather than the body.

The evil influence pictured by these symbolic locusts will not affect the circumstances of life, or even the bodies of men. It poisons the minds of men just as a scorpion poisons the body. Men will fall into such mental misery that they will seek death and not find it.

We believe that the "five months" of torment points back to the ravages of the natural locust, which usually last five months. A limited and brief period is meant, one that may not go beyond five months.

Those who apply this prophecy to the Saracens have to adopt the "year-day" theory to explain the five months. Take a day to stand for a year, and the five months stretch out to one hundred and fifty years. That, they claim, matches the length of Saracen rule. Unfortunately for those who hold this view, the year-day theory finds no support whatever in this book.

The "locusts" were not permitted to kill, only to torment, and this for the space of five months. The torment makes those who suffer it weary of their lives. They want to die, but death flees from them. Death would be a relief from their agony. But they suffer by God's appointment, and however much they long for death, they are not permitted to find it.

Death would be a welcome release from the torment — the anguish of soul these servants of Satan inflict. But that last refuge of despair is denied them: "death will flee from them." The gnawing anguish and horrible torment of a guilty and sin-defiled conscience is beyond all telling. Only those enduring it can weigh and measure it.

Isaiah 9:15 throws light, we believe, on this statement: "the prophet who teaches lies is the tail." So the sting in the tail, we believe, is the twisting of truth by these demonic agents. It produces such anguish of spirit in those affected that life becomes unbearable.

They resemble locusts in their overwhelming numbers and power, but they have stings like scorpions. Their torment is so dreadful that men desire death. Death, however, "will flee from them," for this is not a plague of slaughter and destruction, but only of intense suffering. The people harmed are "only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads." Since the sealing was not for people outside Israel, but only for a select number from the twelve tribes, we may infer that it is only the unbelieving part of Israel who suffer the dreadful, though not fatal, anguish inflicted by this army of tormentors from the bottomless pit.

You know how people fear death now, if they are not saved. They would run away from it if they could. But a dreadful time is coming, when the Lord comes to punish people who would not obey the gospel. Then men will be so tormented that they will beg for death. But they shall not die; death will depart from them.

What a solemn picture of how hardened man's heart can become against God! Even this dreadful visitation produces no good effect. They are given up to "a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false." Those who once despised God in His grace will at last despise Him in His government. Each new stroke of His judgment will only make them more callous and defiant, until at last, like Pharaoh, they walk blindfolded into the very flood that swallows them up. Such is man. How marvellous the grace that could stoop to the fallen state of creatures so degraded and ruined, and buy them for glory at so priceless a cost!

The command given shows, I think very plainly, the error of those who apply the locusts in a literal way. They were not to hurt the grass of the earth, and so on — that is, their natural food, if real locusts were meant. The targets of these symbolic raiders were men — all except God's sealed ones.

The locusts are shaped like horses prepared for battle (v. 7). This speaks of their strength in conquest: they subdue men. "Crowns like gold" speaks of a dignity they have assumed, one that deceives people. Their faces, like the faces of men, add to the deception with a boastful, humanistic approach.

The crown of gold adorns the head of the Son of Man (Rev. 14:14), and also those of the triumphant elders or redeemed (Rev. 4:4). But these satanic invaders from the smoke of the pit are not really crowned, nor is real gold in question. They lay claim to a dignity God never gave them. "On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold." Their claim to royal authority is false.

The crowns they wear are not royal crowns. They are victory wreaths, which they have taken for themselves. To the eye they looked like gold. But they were not what they appeared to be — only "as it were." The face of a man speaks of intelligence.

To those who met them they looked like military imperial power — crowned, and full of masculine energy. But seen from behind, with the secret uncovered, they were subject and weak: their faces were like human faces, their hair like the hair of women.

We may admit that in history this foreshadows the swarms who overran the East under the satanic inspiration of Muhammad. But this is only a secondary fulfilment of the prophecy, and far from a complete one. The reason is clear: Muhammad's conquests were carried out with great bloodshed, while Scripture says plainly that these locusts do not inflict death.

To my mind the meaning is moral, not geographical. This kind of teaching takes away from the real force of Scripture. Is it not almost trifling to take the faces of men, the hair of women, and crowns like gold, and draw out of them a hint of a beard or moustache, with long flowing hair and a turban on top? Taken as emblems of character, the word of God keeps its dignity, and we feel it. The likeness to horses prepared for battle expresses their aggressive attitude, and the crowns like gold seem to hint at their boasted confidence that God had righteously sent them to conquer. Their faces like men's, but with women's hair, may show that, for all their claim to act with authority in God's name, they were subject to mere human authority after all, and not to God.

The New Testament speaks of long hair as the natural covering of a woman. It owns her subjection to the man, and it is a glory to her. But nature teaches that if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him. He must not cover his head in that way, for "he is the image and glory of God." 1 Corinthians 11:6-15. "Hair as the hair of women" is a symbol of subjection to a head, and of effeminacy. Revelation 9:8.

"They had hair like the hair of women" (length of hair) — perhaps the badge of luxury, or of beauty (2 Samuel 14:26; Isaiah 3:24). The mention of women may assert the appearance of weakness (Isaiah 3:12; Isaiah 19:16). Or, taking 1 Corinthians 11 where the hair serves as a veil, it may assert apparent subjection.

Their effeminacy and subjection come next. They are subject not to God, but to Satan their leader: "They had hair as women's hair."

Their faces are as of men, but with the hair of women. This may show that, for all their claim to act with authority in the name of God, they were subject to the lowest human authority after all, and not to God.

"Their faces were as faces of men" also — they had the dignity and apparent independence of men. And yet "they had hair as the hair of women." They were in the fullest subjection to the dark and dreadful power that ruled over them.

Teeth as those of lions exposes their actual character of greed and tenacity: they catch a person and do not let go.

"Their teeth were as the teeth of lions." This shows their readiness for consuming. The lion stands for courage and power, whether the word is applied to Judah, to Messiah, to Satan, or to the animal in nature. (Proverbs 28:1; Proverbs 30:14, 30; Daniel 7:7, 19; Joel 1:6.)

To my mind the intention is moral, not geographical... Does it not seem almost trifling to take the faces of men, the hair of women, and crowns like gold as a hint at beard or moustache, with literal flowing hair under a turban? Taken as emblems of character, the dignity of the divine word is vindicated and felt. The locusts naturally point to countless swarms, devouring within set limits, but they are marked out more by the tormenting sting of false doctrine.

That a woman shaving her head may signify grief, I understand — it is a shame, and her ornament is gone. But why a man putting on woman's hair should be joy is, I confess, beyond me. I am not prepared to argue against it, because I am not clear about the point myself.

They know no pity. Neither force nor entreaty has any effect in turning them from their purpose. Their hearts are hard, their consciences like steel — "they had breastplates like breastplates of iron."

Breastplates of iron symbolise that they could not be wounded when attacked. We also see that they had tails like scorpions, with stings in their tails. That shows what harm they could inflict — even the instilling of untruth, which would produce sharp anguish of spirit and make life unbearable.

They have breastplates imitating iron (v. 9). The believer wears the "breastplate of righteousness" (Ephesians 6:14). This is the opposite: a hardened conscience, with no proper feeling left. The sound of their wings inspired terror, like an army of war-horses on the run. When people have rejected God outright, this leaves room for a great and awesome infestation of demons. They will make their power felt.

The satanic host swept on with unstoppable energy, striking fear and terror into their victims. This sound announces their approach: "The noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle" (compare Joel 2:5).

Whatever its outward attraction to the minds of men, "the teeth of lions" would imply that it will lay hold of men with fanatical ferocity. "The breastplates of iron" may show that it will harden the affections and seize the minds of men with incredible swiftness. "The noise of their wings," likened to "the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle," pictures that speed.

To my mind the intention is moral, not geographical. This kind of teaching takes away from the real force of Scripture. It fills the mind with what may be partly true in a natural way, but is not, I believe, what the Holy Spirit intends. … Taken as emblems of character, these figures uphold the dignity of God's word and make it felt. … I take the iron breastplates, the lion-teeth and the sounding wings as a figure of unflinching fanatical courage. That is their strongest armour.

The war horses and crowns seem to point to unstoppable fury and a show of power. … The teeth of lions point to destructive violence. The breastplates of iron point to a conscience steeled against pity and remorse. Their advance causes a mighty commotion, like war-chariots hurrying to battle. … It is not a material but a moral plague that the followers of Apollyon, "the destroyer," inflict. … there is no destruction of physical life.

We may admit that in history this foreshadows the swarms who overran the East … But this is only a secondary and far from complete fulfilment of the prophecy. Those conquests shed great blood, while the text plainly says these locusts do not kill. The main application is therefore to something quite different, and still future.

They are clearly not the literal insects. One reason alone proves it: Scripture says plainly that they do not feed on the natural food of locusts. The well-known creature, with alarming qualities and powers added, becomes the sign that describes these raiders from the abyss.

They were not mere plunderers. They had warlike energy, and they claimed God's righteous approval for their headlong career, carrying His image and glory on the outside, though in truth they were completely subject to man and to Satan too. Ferocity is theirs, and hearts steeled against every feeling of pity as they rush on. But their worst power was the venom of falsehood which followed. It was the energy of false doctrine, represented by the scorpion sting in the tail. And we know from elsewhere, "the prophet who speaks lies, he is the tail."

Isaiah 9:15 throws light, we believe, on this statement: "The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail." The sting in the tail, then, we believe to be the twisting of truth by these demonic agents, producing such anguish of spirit in those affected that life becomes unbearable.

In the next part of this extraordinary description the past tense gives way to the present. Surely this is deliberate. It marks off the worst and most typical feature from what has gone before: "they have tails like scorpions, and stings." Then again, "and their power was in their tails to hurt men five months." This points back to verses three and five.

Their power matches their origin. It is the power of the scorpions of the earth, that is, a poisonous sting. They differ from natural locusts in this: they do not touch the locusts' food. They are a plague only upon men, and these men are the unsealed. Since we find the sealing in Israel, it seems fair to infer that these unsealed ones are Israelites, and that this plague falls in the east. They do not kill, as a scorpion generally does not. They inflict torment so bad that death would be better, and their power lasts five months.

God's purpose is not yet to kill men. Satan, whatever his power and his malice, can do nothing except what is in the purpose of God. It is a moral, diabolical power over men who have not the mark of God on their forehead.

The locust judgment under the sounding of the fifth angel is a terrible one. Despite Hengstenberg's claim to the contrary, we believe the "five months" of torment points to the ravages of the natural locust, which usually last five months. A limited and brief period is meant, one which may not exceed five months.

Many take the five months of torment (Rev. 9:10) to mean 150 years of unchecked conquest by the Muslim hordes, on the year-day theory.

The book of Daniel gives us a passing glimpse of the organisation of the underworld. There we read of demons of special ability, put in charge of Satan's interests in Persia and Greece. They are called the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece. Later we read in Revelation 9:11 of the king over the bottomless pit, named Abaddon. A king is the head of an organised dominion. He has officers to carry out his government, and subjects to obey him.

Abaddon is Hebrew, and literally means destruction. Apollyon is Greek, and means the destroyer. Why does this difference, small as it looks, appear in these meaningful titles? And why does the Hebrew name come before the Greek? The Jew is more guilty than the Gentile. So the Hebrew title Abaddon, destruction, asserts judgment on Judah in its revolt against God. It states that judgment with force, and states its certainty and finality… The order in grace as in judgment is the Jew first, then the Gentile. The Greek name Apollyon, the destroyer, shows Satan's character toward the Christian world, as his other title shows his link with Judaism.

Revelation 9:11 shows that this name means the same as Apollyon, "the destroyer." The same verse describes him as "the angel of the bottomless pit." The name is perhaps not so much one of the names of Satan as his character personified. It occurs six times in the Old Testament. Three of those link it with hell (sheol): Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11; Proverbs 27:20. One links it with death — "Destruction and Death say," Job 28:22. One links it with the grave, Psalm 88:11. In all these passages, and in Job 31:12, it is translated "destruction."

John reveals that their king and leader is the angel of the bottomless pit (the abyss)… Satan's chief angel, the angel of the abyss, governs this destructive army. The vengeance falls on those who bear the name of the people of God (Jews), but who now, sadly, have turned away from Him. Satan's tricks and temptations made them fall from their high position. Now he, whose servants they have become, is their vengeful enemy and tormentor. So it always goes when his cunning traps his prey. Yet he is only a blind instrument carrying out the just judgment of God.

These symbolic locusts were under the direction of a king whose name means "The Destroyer." He is described as "the angel of the bottomless pit." This shows that these locusts are an organised force. A controlling destructive power directs them, just as in nature the locust swarms of countless millions act like a well-directed army. The destroyer directs this woe, yet it does not bring men to death, for death flees from them. It brings instead the destruction of everything that makes life on earth worth living. It means darkness and torment of a spiritual kind.

But the word does not mean ceasing to exist. The angel of the bottomless pit bears the name Apollyon, or Abaddon, the destroyer. But he can destroy nothing. It is written, "O Israel, you have destroyed yourself, but in me is your help."

In Revelation, Satan, or one of his chief agents, carries the name Apollyon, that is, the Destroyer (Revelation 9:11). The meaning of that name stands in contrast to the name of Jesus, the Saviour of men. Satan destroys what is good, but Jesus destroys nothing except what is evil.

The trumpets fall into two clear groups. The first four, which we have already looked at, share much the same character. The other three are of a completely different kind, and they are marked out as "woe trumpets." A proclamation comes before them, announcing ahead of time the solemn and dreadful weight they carry...

Notice that the first four trumpet judgments dealt mainly with the circumstances of life, pictured by the trees, the rivers, the sun, moon, and stars. The last three trumpet judgments are far more severe and terrible, because, as we shall see, they fall on people themselves rather than on their circumstances. They bring woe to that special group called the dwellers on the earth — those who, like Cain, go out from the presence of the Lord and try to build a world without God.

The plague that the followers of Apollyon, "the destroyer," bring is not physical but moral. The locusts leave a spiritual desert behind them, and the scorpions torment the heart and conscience, but they destroy no physical life. This hellish swarm harms only the unbelieving Israelites, and its time is limited too, as the five months show.

Notice that in Rev. 9:12 we are told the first woe has passed and two more are still to come. Then the sixth angel sounds, and we get the description of the horsemen from the Euphrates. But not until Rev. 11:14 are we told that the second woe has passed, which clearly points back to those same horsemen in Rev. 9. So the whole scene — the mighty angel coming down from heaven, the little book that John takes and eats, the temple and worshippers measured, the court and city given up for forty-two months, the two witnesses with their testimony, death, resurrection and ascension — all of this forms part of the striking episode.

So far, the sad results of each blast have been worse than those of the one before. Each one lays bare the hand of God more clearly and declares that He is at work. The coming trumpet will be the same.

The golden altar is the one mentioned in Rev. 8:3, the altar of incense. The voice that comes from its four horns is, without doubt, the voice of God Himself. Because it comes from the four horns, it means that all the strength of the altar — a horn is a symbol of power — stands against the targets of the woe that follows... All that God is stands for His people who come to Him through Christ. But all that God is stands against His enemies, and men see it when He makes His judgments fall on the earth.

God always warns before He judges. He is giving you your warning tonight, friend. You will do well to be wiser than Belshazzar. He had his warning, but he did not listen to it; still, he had it. If he had listened, I think it might have ended differently for him, because God, although He does judge, loves mercy. Scripture calls judgment "His strange work" (Isa. 28:21). He loves mercy, He loves blessing. He loves to bless the soul.

A voice from the golden altar before God calls forth the sixth angel, or second woe judgment. This again reminds us that heaven directs all these judgments, and that God holds back evil in its full force until the moment for judgment has come.

In the tabernacle of old there were two altars. One stood outside in the court; the other inside in the holy place. … Now the golden altar derived its force and value from the brazen altar. Incense (the merits of Christ) burned on the golden altar every morning and evening, except on the yearly day of atonement. On that special day in the history of Israel, as on other occasions, the blood of the sacrificial animals was put on its four golden horns.

The angel sounds at the summons of Christ. The Lord is still hidden; but He is already occupied with the earth, where He has a people for whom He is interceding. (Compare Isaiah 30:18.) A voice is heard from the four horns of the golden altar, or the altar of incense (Exodus 40:26-27), from the altar of intercession. … The intercession does not apply to the moral condition or to the spiritual conflicts of those who profit by them. It applies to the display of God's judgments, which will in time bring about the deliverance of an earthly people.

The golden altar is the one mentioned in Revelation 8:3, the altar of incense. The voice that comes from its four horns is, without doubt, that of God Himself. Coming out from the four horns, it will mean that all the strength of the altar (a horn is a symbol of power) is against the objects of the coming woe… All that God is, is in favour of His people who approach Him through Christ; but all that God is, is against His adversaries, and He shows it when He causes His judgments to fall upon the earth.

"The golden altar" is the altar of incense, or intercession. It stood before the throne of grace, the mercy seat, with only the veil between. In the picture it is the same place where the angel offered up the prayers of the saints. It is from the horns of this altar, showing that it is in answer to the prayers, that the command to loose the angels in the river Euphrates goes out. This surely shows that the fulfilment primarily in view is future. … No saint could ever have desired such a scourge. Nor could the prayers of the saints in the present age ever have taken such a form. But when Christ is judging the earth, and the saints cry to God to avenge them of their enemies, such a scourge fits their requests exactly, and may be let loose in answer to them.

The horns had no special connection with the offering of incense. They were for the blood of atonement. That blood was put on them either to make atonement for the altar itself, or for the sin of the high priest or of the congregation of Israel. A voice of judgment from these horns … is so different from the usual pleading on behalf of the sinner. It speaks of the altar being defiled, or of guilt for which no atonement could be found.

It is the voice of the Lord, no doubt, that is heard from the horns of the golden altar. But what a solemn sound this is — above all, coming from there? For ordinarily that altar is the special witness of His all-prevailing intercession. From there the incense rose up before God.

"The golden altar" is the altar of incense, the altar of intercession. It stood before the throne of grace, the mercy seat, with the veil between. In the picture it is the same place where the angel offered up the prayers of the saints. The command to loose the angels in the river Euphrates comes from the horns of this altar, which marks it as an answer to the prayers. That surely shows the fulfilment mainly in view is future… No saint could ever have wanted such a scourge. The prayers of saints in the present age could never have taken such a form. But when Christ is judging the earth, and the saints cry to God to avenge them on their enemies, such a scourge may fittingly be let loose in answer to their requests.

"Four" expresses universality. "Horn" denotes power. God's answer to the mingled prayers and incense that gathered around this altar puts forth the whole strength and power of the altar of intercession.

The horns had no special link with the offering of incense. They were for the blood of atonement, which the priest put on them either to make atonement for the altar itself, or for the sin of the high priest or of the people of Israel. A voice of judgment from these horns… is so different from the usual pleading on behalf of the sinner. It speaks of a profaned altar, or of guilt for which no atonement could be found.

The Lord first gives the word, and gives it to the holy angel. That angel then looses the four bound at the Euphrates. Evil can only act when and as far as the good allow. Some identify these four with the angels who held back the winds in Revelation 7. That idea is strange, because the contrast stands out, not the likeness. Here they are not restraining but restrained, which is nowhere said of the holy angels. There they stood at the four corners of the earth, as separate as they could be; here all are bound in the same spot.

These angelic ministers of judgment are under divine control; they cannot act without express command. The very hour when the Lord would deal in just retribution with the peoples who had turned away from Him… is noted with care, for that hour the angels were ready. We are not told what kept these angelic servants of God's providence from acting earlier. The hour of vengeance in the prophetic plan had not arrived.

Revelation names the Euphrates as the place where four angels are, or will be, bound. They will be loosed at the sixth trumpet. That lets loose the Eastern forms of satanic wickedness held in check until then. Viewing Palestine as the centre of God's dealings with the earth, the Euphrates was the barrier between East and West.

This time it is not the priest's offering of incense with the prayers of saints. This time a voice of divine authority comes from the altar. It commands the loosing of the four angels that had been bound in the Euphrates. They were ready to bring death upon men — not torment now, but death… This woe is limited, not merely to the day but even to the hour when it is carried out.

The destroying army was prepared beforehand, but held back until this time. The four angels were loosed, and they were prepared not "for an hour," but for the hour, and day, and month, and year, to kill the third part of men. Some have made clever calculations on the theory that in prophecy each day stands for a year. They try to show how long this woe lasted, and to fit it to recorded events in history. But "the hour, and day, and month, and year" do not mean how long the woe lasts. They mark the time when it begins. The outbreak of this woe had been fixed even to the very hour when it was to start.

These angels who carry out judgment are under God's control. They cannot act without a direct command. The very hour is marked out when the Lord, in just retribution, would deal with the peoples of the revived Latin empire who had abandoned the faith. For that hour the angels were prepared. We are not told what held these servants of God's providence back earlier. In the plan of prophecy, the hour of vengeance had not yet come. The sin of the empire had not yet risen to the height Scripture foretold. Now it has, and judgment, sharp and overwhelming, can wait no longer.

The angel again looses the four bound at the Euphrates. The evil can act only when the good allow it, and only as far as they allow. And the good, however much they may excel in strength, only do His commandments, listening to the voice of His word. It is strange to think that these four are the same as the angels who held back the winds in Revelation 7. What stands out is the contrast, not the likeness. Here they are not restraining but restrained, and that is never said of the holy angels. There they stood at the four corners of the earth, as far apart as they could be. Here all are bound in the same spot.

The first woe fell upon those in Israel who were not sealed. Scripture says this second woe falls upon "the third part of men." That expression is used in Revelation 12:4 for the sphere of the Roman Empire, which would take in professing Christendom.

The killing of the third of men does not mean the end of physical life only. It means the destruction of every confession of relationship with the only true God. What a dreadful picture of people who had once received the gospel, at least in name, and who stood out as God's church on earth!

Notice also that God has fixed the exact time of this "woe." The angels are prepared for the hour, day, month, and year. What striking proof that God always holds the reins of governments in His own hand, and that man can do nothing without His permission! How calmly then the believer may rest at all times!

A voice from the horns of the golden altar tells the sixth angel to loose the four angels held at the Euphrates. As a result a countless company of horsemen is set free. (Greek: twice ten thousand times ten thousand, that is, 200 million. The number points to the immense, countless hordes.) ... This river was both the boundary line of the old Roman Empire and the land of Israel. Forces had held back the flood of nations on the far side of the river. That restraint is now removed, so a great invasion takes place. Since the land of Israel is nearest, it will suffer first, but the revived Roman Empire is the target of these invading hordes.

This immense host is a number too vast for the human mind to take in. The mind is bewildered when it tries to grasp such an army. In number it goes far beyond anything ever seen on earth. God's unseen chariots are numbered in the same way (Ps. 68:17). May this lesson be written on our hearts: the seen and unseen powers of good and evil are all under the direct control of God.

It is not one army, but "armies," not a host, but "hosts." The plural is used rather than the singular because more than one invasion of the Beast's territory from beyond the Euphrates will be attempted, and will succeed.

The crowd of horsemen is given as the huge number of 200,000,000. This is clearly not a literal number. It shows the huge size of the armies used.

At the same time as these angels are loosed, that river is to be dried up "to prepare the way for the kings from the east." An army of 200,000,000 horsemen will then pour into Palestine, most likely meaning to invade and conquer Europe. We question whether the number given for this amazing army is only symbolic, for John says, "I heard their number."

The symbol of a mighty army of horsemen points to some unstoppable delusion of the devil. "Their power in their mouth" may show that this delusion will come with all the persuasive power of speech. ... As a result a third of mankind are killed. This probably does not mean physical death. It means that men are led into all the misery of apostasy — moral death to God.

The immense host, 200,000,000 in number, is completely in the hand of a Master. Its time, its work and its limit are measured out by eternal Wisdom, so that evil at its fullest development is servant to the good. The number is given special emphasis: "I heard their number." And yet it seems impossible for it to be literal, unless we take it, as some would, as describing angelic hosts — where, of course, all our reasoning is lost.

And a vast army of horsemen, a terrible display of human power and strength, pours in from the east across the scene of prophecy. ... And, my reader, if you are not caught up to meet Christ and be for ever with the Lord, you may see all this, and feel it in your own terrified soul!

The description of the horsemen and the horses must be symbolic. The horsemen had breastplates of fire, and of jacinth and brimstone, speaking of satanic energy and power and direction. The horses are one with their riders, for out of their mouths went fire and smoke and brimstone, and by these spiritual poison gases men were killed.

It is indeed a woe. A breastplate is normally a piece of armour that is wholly defensive. But these are of fire and jacinth and brimstone, so they bear an offensive character… This woe falls on the Gentile nations and the proud Roman Empire, which in its revived form will be the dominant political power on the earth in the last days.

The Greek word here means hyacinth, and as a colour that is a deep purple. In Rev. 9:17 the horsemen had breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone, which seem to imply flashes of coloured light.

In the previous Woe we had locust and scorpion together, which stood for destruction and agony. Here horses take the lead — the aggressive and military agents of plunder and slaughter. Their heads "as heads of lions" give this army a certain majesty, courage, and boldness — the well-known marks of "the king of the forest."

These military expeditions are under Satan's direction. Out of the pit he supplies his agents with a defensive armour that no weapon of war can overcome. Here he arms the host with three offensive, destructive forces. Under that empire Christ was crucified, Jerusalem destroyed, and the Jews scattered. Its people are to suffer on earth, as far as men can, the agonies and torments of the lake of fire. Fire and brimstone are the symbols of unimaginable anguish (Rev. 14:10; Rev. 19:20; Rev. 21:8). With them comes "smoke," the moral darkness and delusion of the pit.

Here the "mouth" stands out, and not their tails only as in the locust judgment… Their breastplates are not as iron but of fire and jacinth and brimstone, carrying the very character of the lake of fire.

The horses appear to matter most, and the text dwells on them, though it describes their riders first — and only "breastplates of fire and hyacinth and brimstone." These match the "fire and smoke and brimstone" out of the horses' mouths. They are instruments of divine judgment, and that makes them invincible while they carry out their work. The horses have heads like lions; destruction comes with an open front — the judgment of God. So the human hands that direct it matter less: divine wrath is sure to find those who will carry it out.

Unbelief will discover nothing in it apart from man; but faith will connect all with God.

Fire and brimstone are the extreme form of judgment, the symbols of eternal punishment. Smoke, with its darkening power, works alongside them. These are the instruments of destruction… There is not only moral death, but physical. Vast destruction of life marks this woe, along with Satanic poison poured into souls. The wise will understand the details when it happens; for now we can only see them in outline.

The fire, smoke, and brimstone are separate plagues, but here they work together in the slaughter. Satan's judicial power inflicts the death that the mass are doomed to, and that makes it more dreadful than a sudden death by the sword. This is not simply human slaughter by the scientific methods of warfare, ancient or modern. The destructive forces of the pit are let loose on a "third part of men" who are killed. They are probably the worst in the empire, since a remnant is spared (v. 20) who still do not repent. Twice the three plagues are named, and twice as going out of the mouths of the horses. That repeated mention presses home two things. Satan's judicial power is at work. And the agents are not mere hired soldiers: Satan energises them, and they delight to kill. "Out of their mouths" shows the heart's diabolic pleasure in the work.

Fire and brimstone are the extreme form of judgment and the symbols of eternal punishment. Smoke has a darkening power. All three are the instruments of destruction... There is not only moral death, but physical. Vast destruction of life, besides Satanic poison poured into souls, marks this woe. The wise will understand its details when it happens; for now we can only gather them in outline.

As to the character of the second woe itself, it is not torment like the first, but destruction of life. ... It is the judicial power of Satan, as far as God permits that. It also goes far beyond the earlier woe in energy and in aggressive, destructive warfare.

The symbol of a mighty army of horsemen points to some irresistible delusion of the devil. "Their power in their mouth" may mean that this delusion will come with all the persuasive eloquence of speech. But behind the delusion is the power of Satan, symbolised by their tails being like serpents. The result is that a third part of men are killed. This probably sets out not physical death, but men led into all the misery of apostasy — moral death to God.

The "third part of men" appears again here, so we gather this woe from the east falls especially on what we have called the Roman earth. ... If the earlier woe applied more to the apostates of Israel who were not sealed, this one falls rather on the Gentile nations and the proud Roman Empire. In its revived form that empire will be the dominant political power on the earth in the last days.

The immense hosts, two hundred million in number, are perfectly in the hand of a Master. Eternal Wisdom has carefully apportioned their time, their work and their limit. Evil at its fullest development is a servant to the good... The riders' breastplates of fire and hyacinth and brimstone answer to the "fire and smoke and brimstone" out of the horses' mouths. They stand for divine judgment, of which these hosts are the instruments, and that judgment makes them invincible while their work is done. The horses have heads like lions. Destruction comes with an open front — the judgment of God. So the human hands that direct it matter less: divine wrath is sure to find its executioners.

Notice that mouth here is singular, though the word appeared twice just before as a plural, and that tails is plural. Mouth and tails, singular and plural, would say that one spirit drives them all, but that the teachings and lies of Satan are many and varied. "The power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails." There is not only the open power of Satan, but in addition his secret, malicious and soul-destroying influence. Both are in view here. In the previous woe the power to injure was in the tail (v. 10). Here the power to destroy is in the mouth and tails (v. 19). There he is the liar. Here he is both murderer and liar.

The clause that puts the power in their mouth serves only as a link to what is still to be said about their tails. What comes out of the mouth of the horses did not show enough of their harmful and dreadfully destructive drive. That drive takes further shape in the symbol of the serpent — tails.

"Tails like serpents." The serpent was the creature the devil chose to hide in when he deceived Eve (Gen. 3:1). It is probably the only creature in the animal world condemned to stay degraded for ever, even during the long, worldwide blessing of the millennial days (compare Gen. 3:14 with Isa. 65:25). The serpent is another word for craft, deceit, trickery and cunning. The "tail" of the serpent expresses malignant influence, falsehood, mischief (Isa. 9:15; Rev. 12:4).

Further, the tails have "heads," showing that something intelligent directs this harmful influence. It pursues its purpose to injure with relentless, intelligent activity.

They killed by what they proclaimed, wherever it reached. It cost people their lives. They also had harmful teachings. Those teachings formed one power by which they did harm on the earth — they had heads on their tails.

As for the character of the second woe itself: it is not torment like the first, but destruction of life… That is, they spread poisonous error and left it behind them, and they did this with a more settled plan than in the locust-woe. The locusts in the first woe had scorpion-like tails and stings. The horses in the second had serpent-like tails, and those tails had heads. But they had power in their mouth also… It is the judicial power of Satan, as far as God permits that.

God's judgment comes first in this punishment, but Satan's power is in it too. The horses' tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with these they do hurt. Poisonous falsehood marks this time, when men are given up to believe a lie. Death, physical and spiritual, work together, and the destruction is terrible. But those who escape are not delivered from their sins.

"Their power in their mouth" may show that this delusion will come with all the persuasive eloquence of speech. But behind the delusion is the power of Satan, pictured by their tails being like serpents. As a result the third part of men are killed. This probably does not mean physical death. It means that men are led into all the misery of falling away from God, or moral death to God.

A humbling lesson, and one we need to remember! God has been sending judgment upon judgment. First He struck men's circumstances, then the men themselves — in this last case torment, and finally death itself. But it is in vain. Such is man after all this, that he repents not of his evil, either religiously or morally. Satan's last effort remains.

We never find that God's dealings in judgment produce reformation. In Egypt God dealt with Pharaoh, making His blows harsher and harsher. Did that soften his heart? No, it hardened it. Of judgment still to come, Revelation 16:11 tells us more. Men will curse the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and will not repent of their deeds.

"The works of their hands," of which they did not repent, is a phrase peculiar to heathen idolatry (Isaiah 2:8; Jeremiah 1:16; Psalm 115:4-7).

Here and elsewhere we learn a humbling truth. What "the progress of the age" is drifting towards, in the end, is the setting up of idolatry, in some shape or other, among the civilized nations of the earth. No doubt it will take some plausible and intellectual form, appealing to natural religious feelings, as it always does in its early stages. But God simply classes it with other heathen abominations.

"That they should not worship demons," not "devils" as older translations have it. Demon worship here is different from the worship of lifeless idols made of various materials. Demons are living spiritual beings who dread a judgment to come (Matthew 8:28-29). The abyss is their proper home (Luke 8:31). They are a class of wicked spirits (Revelation 16:14). Satan is their leader, "the angel of the abyss" (Revelation 9:11). In the lands called Christian, people will yet practise, openly and everywhere, the Gentile idolatry Paul condemned so sternly (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).

What were they, these idol-images? Simply matter — silver and gold — shaped by men's hands! Mouth and eyes are there all right... But the idol gives no response to his worshipper by word or look. He takes in nothing. He does not hear the voice that cries to him. He does not smell the incense or the sacrifice. He can stretch out no hand to help, and no foot of his will stir to bring relief. What can these senseless deities do but degrade the men who bow before them into beings as senseless?

Idolatry has taken over the whole scene. The rich have their gods of gold and silver. The middle class have theirs of brass and stone. The poor have their own as well: idols of wood. The worship and the conduct of the worshippers must always match. If people give up God, who is light and love, for Satan, a murderer and a liar, Satan stamps his own character on his followers and worshippers. Verse 20 gives their religion; verse 21 shows their deeds.

We must not think that demon activity has stopped. The call is: "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." 1 John 4:1. This agrees with the statement that "in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons." 1 Timothy 4:1... The world and the professing church are plainly ripening for these things.

The whole scene is given over to idolatry. The rich have their gods of gold and silver. The middle class have theirs of brass and stone. Even the poor have their idols, made of wood. The kind of worship and the behaviour of the worshippers must always match. reason

Revelation uses another word for sorceries: pharmakeia. It refers to drugs — "to stupefy with drugs" — and then to any system of sorcery by spells... Sorcery ranks with the grossest of sins, and the same word describes the professing church in mystical Babylon. Galatians 5:20 translates it "witchcraft."

"Thefts." The bonds of society are loosened. All mutual respect for each other's rights is completely gone, even in the most sacred relationship. What follows? Greed will lure on the mass of men "not killed" to enrich themselves at the expense of society. "Each one for himself" is the order and motto of these coming days. Some respect for property and for other people's goods may still exist, but theft will be part of the settled life and history of these terrible times. A world without God, given up judicially by Him, and Satan received as its prince and ruler!

"The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent," and so on. A humbling lesson, and one we most need to remember! God has been sending judgment after judgment. First on men's circumstances, then on the men themselves — torment in this case, and at last death itself. But it is in vain. After all this, man is still what he is: he does not repent of his evil, in religion or in morals. Satan's last effort remains.

Notice, too, the awful moral condition that will characterise the people of this day. God is refused, idols are accepted in His place; all ties between man and man are broken, and the flesh runs riot in every kind of abominable sin. And this is the outcome of modern progress and civilisation! This is what perfected methods of education produce, and enlightened laws meant to improve government and reform society! Remember, this revived Roman empire, where this "woe" falls, is the expression of man's highest ideal — the outcome of all his striving to perfect the human race. Look at the result!

The close of Revelation 9 showed us rebellious men whose depravity and self-will could hardly go further. Chapter 10 opens with a vision of an Angel of unusual majesty and glory. He announces a speedy end to God's mysterious dealings with the earth. So before the final blow falls, God in His mercy gives solemn and ample warning.

Things are drawing to a close. The half-week of sorrow (three and a half years) is nearly over. Its last hours show the world in mad, open rebellion against God. They also show His saints, on whom the Beast and the Antichrist pour out their fury. But before the Gentile and Jewish apostates and those they have fooled drink the last dregs of the Lord's vengeance, this comforting vision breaks through the dark clouds of judgment. It is a stern reminder to the world. Despite the rage of the wicked, the government of the earth is the Creator's just claim, and He is about to make that claim good in power. The vision is also well fitted to strengthen and comfort believers, especially suffering saints. The same power that will crush the enemy lifts the sufferers to honour.

This is the personal description of this mighty angel. Several of its details point us to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is clothed with a cloud. A cloud is often connected with the divine presence, and so with our Lord... On the mount of transfiguration a cloud overshadowed both Him and His disciples (Matt. 17; Luke 9); and when He ascended up into heaven a cloud received Him out of the sight of His own (Acts 1)... In Revelation 4 the rainbow is around the divine throne; here it is on the angel's head. The rainbow is the symbol of God's everlasting covenant with the earth (Genesis 9:12-13). None, therefore, but a Divine Person could wear the rainbow on His head. The last two features, the face like the sun and the feet like pillars of fire, are almost exactly the same as those given in Revelation 1:15-16. There can be no doubt, then, that this mighty angel is Christ.

"Another strong angel" takes our thoughts back to Revelation 5:2. The only thing the two have in common is the word "strong." The earlier text speaks of a created being given great might. This passage shows us an uncreated Being of divine majesty and power. It is the Lord Himself. We have had already a vision of the Lord in angelic, priestly intercession (Rev. 8:3); here He asserts in angelic power His undisputed claim to the dominion of the earth.

A mighty angel comes down out of heaven, the source of His action. He is clothed with a cloud, the special sign of Jehovah's majesty (Isa. 19:1). None but He has the right to come clothed like that. Further, the rainbow is on His head. He occupies Himself with divine mercy toward the creation. It is no longer a matter of the rainbow around the throne. Here a further step is taken. He approaches the earth. He asserts His undeniable claim to all creation, because it is His by right. "And His face was as the sun," with supreme authority; "and His feet as pillars of fire," with firmness of divine judgment.

The tenth chapter clearly shows that Christ is soon to assert His own rights in the earth. He will declare that He is the only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords... John saw a mighty angel standing for Christ in this way because the time for Christ's actual return had not yet come. The vision surely tells us this: however hardened, unbelieving and unrepentant men may be, Christ is Lord of all. He is soon to lay claim to all, and so events will move fast.

The strong angel's descent to earth signals the close of God's providential dealings. The scene of action is now openly on earth, not in heaven... The rainbow on his head is the same rainbow John saw before (Rev. 4:3). There it encircled the throne and its majestic Occupant; here it rests on the head of the angel, with all its many colours and glories. In the middle of these scenes of judgment God's remembrance of mercy is constant and unfailing. The bow in the cloud, that ancient token of divine goodness (Gen. 9), reappears here, just at the time and season when it is most needed.

From Revelation 10 to 11:14 is a parenthesis. It begins with a Mighty Angel, clothed with a cloud, a rainbow on His head, His face like the sun, and His feet like pillars of fire. In this description there can be no mistake. Here we have the Lord Himself in angelic form. When He appears it is indeed the beginning of the end.

So we have again the Lord in angelic appearance. Before, He appeared as high priest; here He is the angel with royal claim… He approaches the earth, and He asserts His undeniable claim to all creation as His by right… It is no sealed-up book now, but a little one and open: sea or earth are alike His.

In Revelation 5 the Lord holds a closed, seven-sealed book in His right hand. Here the angel holds an open book. Why closed in the one and open in the other? In the first, the Lamb discloses the purposes of God one by one, purposes never revealed before. In the second, "the book is open as part of well-known prophecy, and now brought to a direct issue on known ground." This is also a "little" book, small compared with the larger book of chapter 5, which was so full that it was written on both sides.

It is not a sealed book like the one in Revelation 5, whose contents no one could know until the seals were broken. This book is open, and its contents were already known. Christ's action in taking possession of the earth and the sea — and all that earth and sea represent — is pictured by His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the earth. The prophetic writings had surely made this known already. (See, for example, Psalm 72; Isaiah 11; 25; 60; Zechariah 14, and countless other passages.)

The angel set His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the earth. In Scripture the sea often pictures the mass of nations in an uncivilised state. The earth speaks of the ordered part of the world that has had the light of God, whether in Judaism or Christendom. So the earth is the part of the world that prophecy applies to above all. This leads us on to the time when Christ will publicly assert His rights over the whole world.

Three times in this vision the angel stands on the sea and the earth, and each time the sea is named before the earth, while elsewhere in this book the order is reversed. Is it chance or divine precision that the right foot comes down on the rebellious nations and peoples, and the left on the professed scene of light and government? How firm the tread of the angel! How complete the action! How thorough the subjugation of all to Him!

The Angel stood with His right foot on the sea and His left on the earth. That is, He dominates the whole world — both the unstable, turbulent masses and the more stable, organized kingdoms. So He dominates the entire scene, though for a short time yet He does not display His supremacy, and men do not acknowledge it.

Notice the thought underneath: what the servant of God gives out as prophecy or teaching, he must first eat, digest and absorb himself. Nothing does more spiritual harm than to proclaim and parade our knowledge of truth that we have not yet really made our own in meditation, in prayer, in experience. Gaining fresh truth is sweet and thrilling as honey. But once we digest and absorb it inside, it always displaces flesh and self and the world, and that is a bitter process.

Along with the act of the angel we have His voice of majesty and power, causing intense terror throughout the whole earth (Hosea 11:10; Joel 3:16). It is the voice of Christ. "He sends out His voice, His mighty voice" (Ps. 68:33). We have here the roar of the lion of the tribe of Judah. Chapter 5 names Him this way alongside the Lamb, in that magnificent heavenly scene. But there we see the Lamb acting; here the Lion.

"Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? … For the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3.) I cannot help seeing this passage from the prophet as an illustration, in several ways, of the vision before us. Again, in the Old Testament thunder always stood for God's authority in judgment. We are called to hear this dreadful announcement of God's judgments.

The angel's cry was a cry to Jehovah, and it is answered at once. The answer is one of power and judgment. Thunder is God's voice in judgment, the expression of His authority in it (1 Sam. 7:10; Ps. 18:13; Job 26:14). "The seven thunders" indicate a full and perfect response to the angel's cry. "The seven" gives precision and definiteness to the answering voices of the thunders. This was not a crash like natural thunder. These thunders gave clear expression to the mind of the God of judgment; they "uttered their own voices."

It is the voice that comes first, the voice of Judah's Lion, as "suddenly His anger kindles." The seven thunders answer it — the full divine voice, the whole government of God in action. But what they say must find its meaning at a later time.

His voice, too, was of the highest power and majesty. Its echo was the seven thunders, which surely speak of further acts of judgment. God makes the seals, the trumpets and the bowls all public, but by express command the thunders go unrecorded. It is a solemn thought. Many details of the divine judgments are revealed, yet there will be judgments beyond anything made known to us.

The thunders spoke clearly, but John is not allowed to write their words (v. 4). So we do not need to know what was said.

Things are drawing to a close. The three and a half years of sorrow are nearly spent, but their last hours show the world in mad and open rebellion against God, and against His saints, on whom the Beast and the Antichrist unleash their fury. Before the Gentile and Jewish apostates and those they have fooled drink the last of the Lord's vengeance, this comforting vision breaks through the dark clouds of judgment. It is a stern reminder to the world that, despite the raging of the wicked, the government of the earth is the just claim of the Creator. He is about to make that claim good in power. But the vision is also perfectly fitted to strengthen and comfort believers, and especially suffering saints. The same power that will crush the enemy raises the sufferers to honour.

The "seven thunders" are the perfection of God's intervention in His judgment, answering the voice of the angel. God keeps sealed those things which John then sees; He will not allow John to write. God allows the thunders to speak, to show that all His power must intervene in answer to this cry of Christ.

"The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3). I cannot help seeing this passage from the prophet Amos as an illustration, in several ways, of the vision we are examining. Again, in the Old Testament thunder was constantly how God expressed His authority in judgment. God calls us to hear this dreadful announcement of His judgments. John was about to write, but a voice from heaven forbids it. He was not to communicate the details of what God was going to do now.

The prophet was about to record the words of the thunders. He heard and understood. This vision is full of voices. That of the angel of the thunders, and another "out of heaven." This was a voice of authority... Those communications, unrevealed to us, were to be sealed. It was not the time to make them known. The exact meaning of these revelations remains undisclosed; probably they appear in the later communications that deal directly with the end.

The seer receives two commands: first, to seal up the sayings of the thunder; second, not to write them (compare Dan. 8:26; 12:9)... Sealing these prophetic revelations supposes that the end is a long way off. If the end is near, then the prophecies are not to be sealed. In one case the words are sealed, for the end is far off (Dan. 12:9); in another the sayings are not sealed, for the end is near (Rev. 22:10).

It is the opening voice of the Lion of Judah, whose anger is quickly kindled. The seven thunders answer it — the full divine voice, the whole government of God in action. But what they say has to find its meaning at a later time.

I know of nothing that gives the soul more freedom in reading this book than this sealing up. It speaks of the care and love and foresight that has shut away in the book all we were not to see... But how sweet it is to rest in the love that sealed them to us and opened them to John. How sweet to be free of jealousy or grudging against Him who has made the difference.

It is a selected revelation. We have not recorded in it all that God has revealed during these 4,000 years to His people... Paul writes of having heard unspeakable words, which it is not possible for a man to utter (2 Cor. 12:4). John heard the voice of the seven thunders, but was forbidden to record what they said (Rev. 10:4). And the same apostle tells us that Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

The angel lifts up His hand to heaven and swears by the living God, the Creator of heaven, earth and sea and everything in them, that there should be delay no longer (v. 6). He is one with God, so that this is really God swearing by Himself. He had done this when showing grace to Abraham and his seed (Hebrews 6:13-14); now He does so when executing the judgment that subdues all things under Him.

If we are right to identify this "mighty Angel" with our Lord, then in swearing "by Him who lives forever and ever" He was swearing by Himself, just as when God gave the promise to Abraham. That was an oath for blessing. This is an oath for judgment. Both are equally unchangeable.

Many imagine it means that time was then to end and eternity to begin. But that is not the sense at all... The meaning is that God would no longer let time run on before He stepped in and dealt with the course of this world. Eternity was not to begin at once. There was simply to be no more passing of time before His last summons to the world.

It is not "no longer time," as the Authorised Version has it and the Revised Version keeps it. The translators corrected their blunder by putting "delay" in the margin instead of "time." Either the text or the margin is right, for both cannot be. After the angel's oath is fulfilled, at least a thousand years run their course before time ceases and eternity opens. So it cannot mean that there will be no longer "time."

It is Christ come down, after His long season of patience at the right hand of God, to take possession of His rightful inheritance. Notice this too. He gained the title through His redemption work, yet He takes possession by right of the Creator's sovereign claim. That is why He lifts up His hand to heaven and swears by the eternal God, the universal Creator. It is creation's Lord who has given the title, and now He comes to make it good.

He takes the earth, not by right of His work on the cross, which is not mentioned here. He takes it as the One whom God has resolved to set over the works of His hands — God acting in His sovereign rights as Creator and "possessor of heaven and earth." In the fifth chapter, where God appeared as Judge, Christ was seen as the Lamb slain. In the fourth chapter, where God appeared as Creator, the Lamb was not seen.

God's patience and long endurance had held back the full stroke of divine judgment. But the evil was appalling, and chapter 9 ends by exposing a complete lack of repentance. This was now hastening the climax, which would come when the seventh trumpet sounded. At last the cup of man's iniquity was full.

Now, however, this mystery of God is about to be finished. God, by His Son, the Heir of all things, will wrench the government of the world out of Satan's iron grasp and shut him up as a prisoner in the abyss for 1000 years... Evil is tolerated and allowed today, despite many checks that keep it from reaching its full height. Then God will punish it openly. The mystery is at an end. Christ is about to reign.

In this passage the mystery of God is this: for long ages God has not stepped in publicly in the affairs of men. The wickedness of men has grown, with no public check from God. God has let men indulge their desires, reach their ambitions, and grow in their rebellion against Him and in their persecution of His people. During the ages God's people have been tortured on the rack, banished from their homes, and martyred at the stake, and God, it might seem, has not interfered. All this — which has been called the silence of God — is a great mystery. But it can be explained. In Scripture a "mystery" is not something that no one can explain. It is something known only to those let in on it. While this mystery lasts, believers have the open book of prophecy, foretelling the blessing that will come when God steps in publicly. So the lamp of prophecy has lit up the darkness of the ages and let the believer into the mind of God.

We must in no way connect the mystery in Revelation 10:7 with the mystery that filled so much of Paul's ministry. That one is the heading up of all things in Christ. Its present aspect is that God has given Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1, 3; Colossians 1, 2). There are other mysteries, such as that of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16), and of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:7). In Revelation the mystery is God staying passive while evil goes on and prospers. That would be a still greater mystery if revelation had not told us this: His silence, which He speaks of in Psalm 50, and His holding back will come to an end.

God does check evil to some extent, partly through human government and partly through His own providential dealings. It is a great mercy that such restraints exist. Still, no government can root out the influence of evil, and good is misrepresented, so it has little influence. That is what seems so mysterious a thing to us, when we know God and how He hates evil.

The real force of the words "when he shall begin to sound" is "when he shall sound, as he is about to do." This, with the expression "there shall be no longer delay," fixes the time. It is just before the seventh trumpet, when "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ" (Revelation 11:15). Then "the mystery of God" will be finished.

This is indeed glad tidings proclaimed to His prophets of old, not declared by them (although they did that too, as their books testify), but to them: "For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). This is God's decree: He will step in publicly for His afflicted saints. He will crush the power of evil. He will drive the usurper Satan out of the earth, which he has so far been allowed to ruin morally and physically. And He will set up the world in more than its first beauty and order. The same blessed hope, with added glories, is our strength today.

There has been an apparent long delay. Now there will be "no more delay." Man's day has run to its end. Though in cloud and storm, the day of the Lord is dawning at last. Then the mystery of God is finished... Meanwhile evil keeps on and seems to win, and by this the heirs of glory are disciplined. Now at last all is cleared up. The mystery of God had to be a mystery while patience did its perfect work. Now it is finished forever. The glory of God shines like the sun. How fully faith is justified! The murmur of doubt is silenced forever.

The prisoner of Patmos again hears the voice from "the Heaven," the dwelling of God. John's limbs may have been chained, and the waves may have dashed against his rocky prison. But the island was no lonely place for a man whose soul was taken up with the visions of God... He is commanded to go to the angel and take the little opened book out of his hand. He obeyed at once. The Speaker was none other than God Himself, and so his obedience was prompt and unquestioning. The majesty of the angel held no terrors for John.

Notice the clear contrast. The prophet here takes and eats a little book. We have already seen a great book sealed with seven seals... Why a little book? And why open? It is little, because it deals with a narrower sphere, one already familiar in the prophets. It is open, because things are no longer described in the mysterious dress that the Seals, and even more the Trumpets, put on them. Everything is going to be plain in what comes out here.

The book has been shut up until now, but it is shut up no longer. Its contents are clearly connected with what the angel does here. They have to do with the earth alone, not with heaven as well, as the seven-sealed book does. This should lead us to see what the book is. Old Testament prophecy has just this character: it opens up earthly things to us, not heavenly ones. Its promises belong to Israel, the earthly people (Rom. 9:4), and it deals fully with the millennial kingdom and the upheavals that are its birth-pains.

What is in the opened book will become the subject of John's testimony to peoples, nations, tongues and kings. But if God sends His servant to prophesy, He will first make him fit for the service. So John must first eat the book (compare Ezekiel 3:1-3). He must take in and digest these divine communications before he can rightly pass them on to others. Surely a lesson for God's servants in every age.

Note the thought underneath it all. What the servant of God gives out, as prophecy or as teaching, he must first eat, digest and absorb himself. Nothing is more spiritually ruinous than to announce and show off knowledge of truth we have not yet made our own in meditation, in prayer, in experience.

There is no sweeter passage in all Scripture than what God has revealed about the showing forth of His blessed Son. Prophetic truth is usually sweet and attractive to those whose interest in it is just waking up. But if it is followed through, if the book is really eaten, it leads to self-judgment and to separation from evil. That will always be bitter. There is not one of us who readily takes the place God's Word would put him in during this time of Christ's rejection. So the point here is that God's truth makes demands.

The meaning of this soon becomes clearer. There is something like an appendix of prophecy, where he takes up his course again for special reasons. We may call it the second volume of "the things which are about to be after these," and it starts at Revelation 12.

We are dealing with symbols here. The prophet eating the book is no harder to understand than Jeremiah eating the words of the LORD (Jer. 15:16). To eat is to make the thing one's own, to take it into one's being (John 6:49-58). The Christian prophet eats the scroll and finds it both sweet and bitter. This reminds us of a similar symbolic act by the Jewish prophet (Ezek. 2:8; Ezek. 3:1-3). The first effect of the prophetic message, the scroll in the mouth, was sweetness — the sweetness of honey. But then you weigh the revelations and think over the judgments they announce, and the next effect is bitterness and sorrow. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens. It announces both joy and grief.

Notice the clear contrast between two books. Here the prophet takes and eats a little book. Earlier we saw a great book sealed with seven seals. It was sweet as honey to the taste that the true and all-worthy King should reign. But how bitter to the feelings that unsparing judgment should fall on most of the Jews, and still more on proud Christendom, both apostate and worse. Why a little book? And why open? It is a little book, because it deals with a fairly narrow field, already familiar from the prophets. It is open, because things are no longer described in the mysterious disguise that the Seals, and still more the Trumpets, put on them.

How sweet it is to our taste when God communicates some new truth to us! We rejoice in it like people who have found hidden treasure. But all truth is death to the natural man. So when the Holy Spirit applies it inside us, we find it bitter in its working and effects.

Notice the thought underneath. Whatever the servant of God gives out as prophecy or teaching, he must first eat, digest and absorb himself. Nothing does more spiritual damage than to announce and parade knowledge of truth we have not yet made our own in meditation, in prayer, in experience. Gaining fresh truth is sweet and exciting as honey. But once we digest and absorb it, it always displaces flesh and self and the world, and that is a bitter process. This is so even when, as here, the little book concerns judgment that is to fall on others and not on oneself.

If the book is really eaten, it leads to self-judgment and to separation from evil, and this will always be bitter. God's truth makes demands. If you set out in earnest to walk in the truth revealed, you too will know something of its bitterness. Receive the prophetic testimony, walk in the power of what is revealed there, and you can no longer enjoy the things you used to enjoy.

The Bible — to widen the application — is not a book of information to gather and then repeat. It is the voice of God to the soul that reads it. So you must hear it for yourself before you can rightly pass on what you have heard... Take Ezekiel and John as examples: we are not qualified to be living channels of divine truth until we have made it our own.

The prophet eating the book is no harder to understand than Jeremiah eating the words of the Lord. To eat is to make the thing one's own, to take it into one's own being. The Christian prophet eats the scroll and finds it both sweet and bitter. This reminds us of a similar symbolic action by the Jewish prophet Ezekiel. The first effect of prophetic communication — the scroll in the mouth — was sweetness, the sweetness of honey. But when you weigh the revelations and think about the judgments they announce, the next effect is bitterness and sorrow. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens, as it contains announcements both of joy and grief.

Notice the clear contrast between the little book which the prophet here takes and eats, and the great book we have already seen sealed with seven seals. It was sweet as honey to the taste that the true and all-worthy King should reign. But how bitter to the feelings that unsparing judgment should fall on the mass of the Jews, and still more on the proud Christian world. Why a little book? and why open? It is little because it deals with a fairly narrow sphere, already familiar in the prophets. It is open because things are no longer described in the mysterious dress that the Seals, and still more the Trumpets, wrapped them in.

Does this not show that the truth of all God is going to bring in — the unfolding of coming glories — is indeed sweet to our taste? And yet it involves the setting aside of the flesh, and the utter judgment of all that the flesh craves. We have to discover that as believers the flesh is still in us. So the truth, however sweet to the taste, brings bitter exercises as it uncovers the true character of our own hearts.

If followed up, if the book is really eaten, it leads to self-judgment and to separation from evil. This will always be bitter. Not one of us finds it easy to take the place that God's Word would put him in during this time of Christ's rejection. And so the point here is that God's truth makes demands.

If God sends His servant to prophesy, He will first make him fit for his service; and so John must first "eat" the book. He must take in and digest these divine communications before he can pass them on to others in the right way… The truth must first become our own by inward application. Only then can we be taken up and used to testify of it to others. To try to "prophesy" before we have "eaten" and "digested" will only expose our nakedness in front of the enemy.

So the thought of the end of God's ways is sweet to the taste and glorious to think about. But men are wilful and blind, and Israel in particular. That is what makes judgment necessary before God can reach His end, and the thought of it gives sorrow to the heart. We look ahead, and it is "with joy and sorrow mingled," and so we enter to some degree into the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice the thought underneath this. What the servant of God gives out, whether prophecy or teaching, he must first eat and digest himself. Nothing does more spiritual damage than to announce and parade our knowledge of truth. It is truth we have not yet made our own in meditation, in prayer, in experience.

If God sends His servant to prophesy, He will first qualify him for that service. So John must first "eat" the book (compare Ezekiel 3:1-3). He must take in and digest these divine communications before he can rightly pass them on to others. This is surely a lesson for God's servants in every age... To try to "prophesy" before we have "eaten" and "digested" will only expose our nakedness in front of the enemy.

As believers we have to discover that the flesh is still in us. So the truth, however sweet to the taste, brings bitter exercise with it. It shows us the true character of our own hearts. We must judge not only the world around us, but the flesh within us... When we have judged the flesh, the Lord can use us as witnesses to others. So John, after passing through these exercises, is told, "You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings."

This is work with a deeply felt bitterness about it, because most people will not believe. Yet for a true prophet there is a sweetness no one can dispute.

John was to use the knowledge he had gained. Until now his prophecies had been the contents of the sealed book, whose judgments Christ had then first unfolded. But the contents of the open book he had now eaten were to form at least a part of the prophecies he had still to deliver. He had received divine understanding of the book of prophecy, and now he was to be its interpreter.

Twice the book is spoken of as "open." So in this short chapter we get things that were spoken and yet sealed, not to be published. We also get things which, though open, the prophet had to eat before he passed them on to others. Even in the solemn matter of judgment there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak.

If this is Old Testament prophecy that is now "open," we can see why John has at this point to "prophesy again" — not "before," but "over." That is, "concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings." He is to take up the theme of the old prophets. He does not simply echo their predictions; he adds to them a testimony that completes them and closes them.

There is an appendix of prophecy here, where he renews his course for special reasons. We may call it the second volume of "the things which are about to be after these." It begins with Revelation 12 and runs on from there.

So in Revelation 10 it is God's prophetic testimony as to many peoples and nations and tongues and kings, but neither the gospel nor the church as now.

"Rise and measure." John had been a passive but deeply interested watcher of the scenes shown under the earlier Trumpets. But now Israel, his own nation, is in question, and he is told to "rise." God's command stirs him into action. It is more than a mere question of posture.

The prophet now receives a reed like a staff, to measure the temple of God with it. A reed might suggest weakness, and in fact everything that is of God lies under that reproach at the time in view. But the words "like a staff" suggest the opposite thought. This measuring shows God's care for His people. To unbelief that care is a mystery, for His people seem exposed to the same ups and downs as other men. Yet it is a staff you may lean on with fullest confidence.

Once again the language is symbolic. A measure of length may suit a temple or an altar, but it cannot apply to worshippers in a literal sense. The thought seems to be that God examines these three and takes account of them. He ignores the outer court, since it lies under Gentile feet. This shows, we gather, that God is going to support what is of Himself among His people Israel here on earth.

The events of this chapter concern the period after the church is gone and before the Lord's appearing. So the temple must be the one the Jews will build, while still in unbelief, after they return to their own land. Still, we find a true remnant inside the corrupt nation... The word used here for temple means the house itself, including the holy place and the most holy place. It is not the other word sometimes used, which covers the whole set of sacred buildings together with the court.

The force of the figure does not require a material temple standing in Jerusalem at that time. Yet prophecy demands the building of a stone temple, and the rebuilding of Jewish life, both civil and religious, in that deeply solemn period between the church being caught up (1 Thess. 4:16-17) and the Lord's appearing (Jude 14, 15).

The altar, I think, means the bronze altar outside; the golden altar stood inside the temple. "Those who worship there" are people marked by nearness to God. The altar was where a person truly came near to God, and they have come near Him. It was the place of the burnt offering, which marked the acceptance of the person. So here we see God owning a certain number of people on the earth as able to draw near to Him.

In fact these worshippers had no access into the holy place. But we are taught here that God regarded them as belonging to it, even though they could not enter. So the remnant truly have a priestly character before Him.

Jewish worship stopped in the past and will start again in the future. Christian worship comes in between. Christians have no place of worship on earth; they enter no temple here. Their one and only place of worship is the most holy place in the sanctuary above (John 4:21, 23, 24; Heb. 10:19-22). Their sacrifices are praise to God and practical kindness to others (Heb. 13:15-16).

Here we have the same word as in chapter 8:3. God says, "I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy" — the word means power, or effectiveness. These things are not given in any order at all; but there is adequate testimony: two lampstands, two olive trees. These witnesses have the power of Moses and Elijah.

The hostile powers act without hindrance, yet God does not let them defile the city without raising up a witness against them. Verse 3 speaks of this witness... Outwardly the witnesses are marked by the deepest humiliation, shown by their sackcloth. Inwardly they are marked by a shining light, which God gives and keeps burning. The picture comes from Zechariah 4, except that here each witness is an olive tree and a lampstand. The olive tree supplies the oil, and the oil feeds the light. God is the God of the earth, and though the holy city is trampled down He has not given up His claim to the earth. So before He makes good that claim in irresistible power, He maintains His witness in the face of the enemy.

Note next how long their prophetic testimony lasts. It will be a thousand two hundred and sixty days... The two periods coincide, both being three years and a half... These three and a half years are the last half of Daniel's seventieth week (Daniel 9:25-27). This is the period of Antichrist's terrible rule in Jerusalem, backed and sheltered by all the power of the last head of the Roman empire. At the close of that period Christ will come in glory.

The Lord speaks of days here, not of forty-two months. It seems He does this to mark how much He values their testimony. He makes as much of it as He can. He does not sum it up together, as He does when He speaks of the beast (Rev. 13:5). Lovingly He speaks of the time as days, as though He were counting them all out.

Their days of testimony are counted one by one. Theirs is not an on-and-off testimony. It goes on daily till the allotted period is finished, and not a day longer.

People have made countless guesses about the number of witnesses... Others, with more reason and with some support from Scripture, suppose that Moses and Elijah are the two witnesses... The number of the witnesses is meant to convey a full and adequate testimony... Jewish law, and here we stand in Jewish circumstances, called for two witnesses to give valid evidence (Deut. 17:6; 19:15).

I see no proof at all that either Elijah or Moses is one of the two witnesses. The two witnesses stand in the same moral position as those two men, but there is no proof that they are the same people.

Being clothed in sackcloth may show that their message is one that calls aloud for repentance.

They stand apart from everyone around them, mourning over the terrible falling away of the nation they love, and everyone rejects them. Sackcloth is a fitting emblem of their testimony.

They are compared to two olive trees and two lampstands. This reminds us of Zechariah 4, where the prophet sees a vision of a seven-branched golden lampstand fed by two olive trees. The two lampstands speak of their clear and capable testimony. The two olive trees show that the Spirit of God gives this testimony all the support it needs.

In Zechariah there is one lampstand, all of gold, with its bowl, its seven lamps, its seven pipes, and an olive tree on either side. That is perfect unity and full development... The two anointed ones the prophet saw point in their fullness to the offices of Christ as King and Priest. These are the great means of giving and keeping divine light in "the world to come." Here we have only a testimony to these things. So there were two witnesses, the smallest testimony the law would accept. The oil here goes with mourning, not with joy. And the witnesses wear the sackcloth of affliction, not the garment of praise.

In Zechariah the thing itself is done; here there is only testimony to it... They stand before the Lord of the earth, the One to whom the earth belongs, to maintain His claim on it. They wear sackcloth because people resist that claim. Theirs is testimony enough in the power of the Spirit, a spiritual light in the darkness — a light that does not drive the darkness away.

It will be a testimony given at Jerusalem during Israel's Great Tribulation, but not worldwide. God will acknowledge it, for "only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15). It will not be a full testimony, as Zechariah's was, because instead of seven lamps there will only be two... Their light will support the weak remnant still living in Jerusalem before Christ's reign.

It is an adequate testimony to the state of Israel according to God — "two witnesses." God will also be among the remnant, without acknowledging the people as His own... In the "two," I do not go beyond the idea that it is an adequate testimony.

They are anointed ones, for they are olive trees, and so they testify in the power of the Holy Spirit. They are the two lampstands, so their testimony is the light from God in the darkness of that day. Standing before the Lord of the earth shows what their testimony is about: the claims of the coming Messiah as the rightful Lord of the earth... They are also two anointed ones. Besides the power of their testimony, this points to how Christ will come and take possession — as King and Priest, a Priest on His throne, like Melchizedek.

God is Lord over the earth. He will not let the times of the Gentiles last any longer... He had given the earth to the Gentiles (Daniel 2:37). His throne had judged Jerusalem and left it... But God will take back His place as Lord over the earth. The two witnesses testify to this lordship, to the Lord over the earth — not to the Father, or to the heavenly glory, or to the Lord of heaven.

The prophets stand before the Lord of the earth. They know whose presence they are in, and they endure because by faith they see Him, though human eyes cannot see Him.

The power of judgment comes out of their mouth. That is, their word brings judgment on their enemies, in line with their testimony, to devour those who would stop that testimony. They have great power in this way... This is great power. But they are in sackcloth — in sorrow and suffering. This power is only in their hand when they need it. And it is there only to secure and keep up their testimony, not to set aside the power of the beast itself.

Death is the certain portion of anyone who wants to harm the witnesses. Some will receive the testimony, and it may be many. Others — by far the greater number — reject the message with pride and scorn. Another group will try to harm the witnesses by violence or slander. Stern judgment falls on this last group. It does not fall on the crowd, but on one person at a time, as the opposition to the witnesses turns violent.

God is the God of the earth. Though the holy city is trampled down, He has not given up His claim to the earth. So before He makes that claim good in unstoppable power, He keeps His witness going in the face of the enemy. So much so that, for the whole time of their testimony, no one can touch them. It is their attackers who die, not them.

Notice here that the power of the two witnesses in Revelation shows itself in two kinds of signs. They shut heaven so that no rain falls, and they bring down fire from heaven; and if anyone wants to harm them, that is how he must be killed. That is Elijah. They strike the earth with every plague as often as they want. That is Moses.

This shows that it was not true Christian testimony... It was the very thing the Son would not do when He was on earth, and the thing He rebuked James and John for wanting (Luke 9:54-55). Here, instead, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies. That is exactly right when God is about to take the place of Judge on earth. But the Lord does not take that place now. He is saving sinners... It would be foreign to Christianity, and against everything Christianity breathes, if a believer wished the death or injury of someone who opposed him with evil intent. Christianity shows that the victory grace gives us is to show love and kindness to an enemy.

This is not the grace of Christianity. It is the ministry of power in the manner of Elijah and Moses. The judgment must come because grace has had no effect, and its outcome will be blessing, for "when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9).

Some try to dodge the difficulty of the devouring fire that comes out of them by pointing to the final fiery judgment on God's enemies. But what could be weaker than such excuses? The true and full meaning is judicial power now, ongoing or occasional, against everyone who opposes them: like Elijah's among a people who had turned away from God, and like Moses' among a people oppressed and enslaved by the Gentiles. Their testimony is prophecy, not the gospel, so it is armed with judgment instead of breathing grace.

We may note here that the power of the two witnesses in Revelation shows itself in these two kinds of signs. They shut heaven so that no rain falls. They bring down fire from heaven. If anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. That is Elijah. They strike the earth with every plague as often as they wish. That is Moses.

In fact, those times match much of what you have in Moses and Elijah. There was idolatry in Israel then, and Elijah gave a remarkable testimony against it. God Himself punished His people, and the sky above them was like brass. So it will be again. The man who then controls Israel's future will turn away from God, and he will allow and enforce idolatry. Israel will again live under the authority of the nations, as they did in the days of Moses. Yet a little remnant will be set apart for God.

Elijah witnessed to a people in relation to God; Moses to a hostile power. In this way God would show how He will leave the people among whom the witness is given without excuse.

This does not mean that they are Moses and Elijah themselves. It means that their testimony has a similar character, and that God backs it as He backed the testimony of those two honoured servants long ago.

Here we find again the power of Elijah and of Moses. It is the proof that God takes up His relationship with His people once more, but in a sovereign way, through prophets as in earlier days — when His people were in Egypt, or cut off from the temple, as in the time of Elijah. This is always what God does when His people are in disorder and He returns to His relationship with them. The witnesses shut the heavens; they have authority over the waters and over the earth. The three things which we have seen to be objects of judgment (chapter 8) are now in their power.

Verse 6 gives them the same kind and extent of power that Moses and Elijah had. Elijah shut up heaven; Moses turned water to blood and struck Egypt with plagues. To this last there is no limit — every plague whenever they will. This is great power; but they are in sackcloth — in sorrow and suffering. This power is only in their hand in time of need. And it serves only to secure and maintain their testimony, not to set aside the power of the beast itself.

How useless to apply all this to witnessing Christians, in the West or the East, earlier or later! In practice their calling was not to resist evil, to love their enemies, to bless those who cursed them, to do good to those who hated them, and to pray for their persecutors. And the Lord Himself showed the pattern for this calling: their heavenly Father. He does not shut heaven so that no rain falls. He does the opposite, and sends rain in mercy on just and unjust alike, with no distinction between them.

This is not the grace of Christianity. It is the ministry of power in the manner of Elijah and of Moses. This judgment must come because grace has proved ineffective. And its outcome will be blessing, for "when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9).

God preserves them despite the beast, till their work is done. But as soon as their testimony ends, God allows the beast to overcome them. It is just as it was with the Lord. The greatest pressure came against Him in His service.

The truth is simple. Take the word in its regular meaning and in harmony with the context, and God protects the witnesses for the whole 1260 days of their testimony. Then, once their mission is complete, and not before, God permits the beast to fight them, overcome them, and kill them.

The word is ἄβυσσος, literally 'without a bottom,' an abyss. The passages in Revelation show us that the abyss is where the Satanic powers are shut up. It is not where they will be punished. That place is the lake of fire.

This is the first mention of the Beast in these apocalyptic visions. He is named as one well known. In Daniel 7:2-3 and Revelation 13:1 the Beast, or Rome, rises from the sea. That is, it rises out of the struggling masses of mankind, out of a scene of anarchy and confusion... But our text says the Beast comes "up out of the abyss." So while its historical rise is human, its revival is satanic.

Next it is assumed that Revelation 11:7, "the beast that rises from the bottomless pit," means the beast who then rises from the bottomless pit. There is no proof of this. It is a characteristic, and not a date. Isn't it better to believe that he takes this character when Satan is cast down from heaven and is full of rage, and that the dragon then gives him his throne and great authority?

"It was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them." Some are killed — for example, the two witnesses. This could never have happened before. God never allowed His saints to be overcome.

The Beast has found his way from Rome to Jerusalem. Rome is the capital seat of Gentile power, both civil and religious. There he ravages and murders as he pleases. Yet both his power and the length of time he may use it are under divine control.

The Beast continues for at least seven years, but his power to persecute is limited to 1260 days, or forty-two months of thirty days each. The Beast is then allowed, at the close of his active career, to enter Jerusalem and kill the witnesses — "his last political act," as one has said.

Looked at from man's side, the beast had made war with them and "conquered them." Looked at from God's side, they have "conquered the beast."... God is always victorious in the end, and so are those who trust Him.