PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Revelation
Milligan, William · 125,235 words · 164 reading sections
Old Testament Volumes
The Expositor's Bible Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, D.D., LL.D. [Illustration] _Edited by_ W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, D.D., LL.D. _New and Cheaper Edition. Printed from original plates Complete in every detail. Uniform with this volume_ Price 50 cents per volume. (If by mail add 10 cents postage) GENESIS. By Rev. P…
307 wordsSECTION 2Prefatory Note.
ST. MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D. ST. MARK. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh. ST. LUKE. By Rev. Henry Burton. GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XI.; Vol. II., Chapters XII-XXI. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. In 2 vols. By Rev. Prof. G. T. Stoke…
474 wordsSECTION 3_The Prologue._
CONSOLATORY VISIONS. THE SEALING AND THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE 111 A SECOND CONSOLATORY VISION. THE MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE AND THE TWO WITNESSES. THE SEVENTH TRUMPET 168 RENEWED CONSOLATORY VISIONS. THE LAMB ON THE MOUNT ZION AND THE HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD 238 THE PAUSE OF VICTORY AND JUDGMENT OF THE…
728 wordsSECTION 4_The Prologue._
Therefore may he now, ere yet he enters upon his task, pronounce a blessing upon those who shall pay due heed to what he is to say. Does he think of the person by whom the apostolic writings were read aloud in the midst of the Christian congregation? then, _Blessed is he that readeth_. Does he think of those who listen…
687 wordsSECTION 5_The Prologue._
The Salutation is addressed _to the seven churches which are in Asia_. On this point it is enough to say that by the Asia spoken of we are to understand neither the continent of that name, nor its great western division Asia Minor, but only a single district of the latter, of which Ephesus, where St. John spent the lat…
844 wordsSECTION 6_The Prologue._
The statement of these verses, however, reveals not only what the Christian Church is to which the Apocalypse is addressed; it reveals also what the Lord is from whom the revelation comes. He is indeed the Saviour who died for us, the witness faithful unto death: but He is also the Saviour who rose again, who is the fi…
677 wordsSECTION 7_The Prologue._
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, writ…
686 wordsSECTION 8_The Prologue._
"Tribulation" is the chief thing spoken of, but the Apostle, with his love of groups of three, accompanies it with other two marks of the Christian's condition in the world,--the "kingdom" and "patience" that are in Jesus. St. John therefore was in tribulation. He had been driven from Ephesus, we know not why, and had …
799 wordsSECTION 9_The Prologue._
_And I turned to see the voice which spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a Son of man._ It was a splendid vision which was thus presented to his eyes. The golden candlestick, first of the Tabernacle and then of the Temple, was one of the g…
883 wordsSECTION 10_The Prologue._
The Apostle felt all this; and, believer as he was in Jesus, convinced of his Master's love, and one who returned that love with the warmest affections of his heart, he was yet overwhelmed with terror. _And when I saw Him_, he tells us, _I fell at His feet as one dead._ In circumstances somewhat similar to the present,…
679 wordsSECTION 11_The Prologue._
Thus we are taught what to expect in the book of Revelation. It will record the conflict of Christ and His people with the evil that is in the world, and their victory over it. It will tell of struggle with sin and Satan, but of sin vanquished and Satan bruised beneath their feet. It will be the story of the Church as …
296 wordsSECTION 12_The Church On The Field Of History._
[1] John v. 19; Heb. xiii. 8. [2] Eph. i. 22. [3] Chap. iii. 14. [4] John xiv. 27. [5] Psalm cxxiv. 7. [6] Psalm lxxii. 1, 2; lviii. 11. [7] Compare the Greek text of Westcott and Hort. [8] John v. 19. [9] John xv. 20; xvi. 2. [10] John i. 7. [11] John i. 9. [12] John xvii. 11. [13] 2 Cor. xiii. 4. [14] Co…
1,576 wordsSECTION 13_The Church On The Field Of History._
The fortunes of the Church are to be traced in the Revelation of St. John; and the first thing necessary therefore is that we shall learn what the Church is. To accomplish this is the leading aim of the second and third chapters of the book. An object precisely similar appears to determine the arrangement of the fourth…
781 wordsSECTION 14_The Church On The Field Of History._
The interpretation now given is confirmed by the fact that the "angels," as appears from the words of chap. i. 20, "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches," are not different from the "stars," for it is the province of the star, instead of hiding itself in some secret chamber, to shine, and from its place…
833 wordsSECTION 15_The Church On The Field Of History._
(3) The nature of the call to the hearers of each epistle to give heed to the words addressed to them leads to the same conclusion. Had each epistle been designed only for those to whom it was immediately sent, that call would probably have been addressed to them alone. Instead of this it is couched in the most general…
898 wordsSECTION 16_The Church On The Field Of History._
(5) Many expressions are to be met with in the seven epistles which find their explanation only in those later chapters of the book where a reference to the Church universal cannot be denied. The _tree of life_ of the first epistle meets us again, more fully spoken of, in the description of the new Jerusalem.[39] The _…
836 wordsSECTION 17_The Church On The Field Of History._
(7) It ought to be noticed that all the cities to which the seven epistles are addressed were situated beyond the boundaries of the Holy Land, and that the Christian Church in each was certainly composed, at least in large measure, of Gentile converts. These churches cannot therefore represent the Jewish Church alone, …
786 wordsSECTION 18_The Church On The Field Of History._
There are two aspects of the Church which may be said to pervade the whole Apocalypse: first, as she is in herself, in her own true nature; and secondly, as she is engaged in, and affected by, a struggle with the world. The distinction between the two may be traced in the grouping of which we speak. The first three epi…
1,107 wordsSECTION 19_The Church On The Field Of History._
Attention to the promises _to him that overcometh_ in the different epistles seems to confirm what has been said. There is a marked contrast between the tone of these promises as they are given in the two groups of epistles; and even where a certain amount of similarity exists, the promises in the second group will be …
845 wordsSECTION 20_The Church On The Field Of History._
We have considered the epistles contained in these chapters as a unity representative of the universal Church in the two main aspects of her condition in the world; but before leaving them it will be well to look at them individually, and to mark the peculiar condition of each Church addressed. 1. The first epistle is…
845 wordsSECTION 21_The Church On The Field Of History._
Possessed of this spirit, we shall _overcome_; and the first love will meet its first reward. _To him that overcometh_, says the Lord, recalling the blessedness of Eden, _will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God_. 2. The second epistle is that to Smyrna, a rich, prosperous, and dissolute…
866 wordsSECTION 22_The Church On The Field Of History._
3. The third epistle is that to Pergamum, a city at the time devoted to the worship of ?culapius, the god of medicine, and in particular largely engaged with those parts of medical science which are occupied with inquiries into the springs of life. That the wickedness of the city was both greater and more widespread th…
815 wordsSECTION 23_The Church On The Field Of History._
We thus reach the close of the first three epistles "to the churches;" and we see that, while each is accommodated to the particular circumstances of the Christian community to which it is sent, the three taken together present to us the three leading considerations upon which, when we think of Christ's Church in this …
1,237 wordsSECTION 24_The Church On The Field Of History._
The trial was great; so also is the consolation: _And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of iron, as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers; as I also have received of My Father: …
675 wordsSECTION 25_The Church On The Field Of History._
Yet there also the Good Shepherd had His little flock, and there again we meet them. _But thou hast a few names in Sardis which did not defile their garments._ These were to Sardis what "the rest" were to Thyatira. They were the "gleanings left in Israel, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top…
976 wordsSECTION 26_The Church On The Field Of History._
7. The seventh epistle is to Laodicea, and here there can be no doubt that we have the picture of a church in which the power of the world carries almost all before it. The church is addressed by Him who describes Himself as _the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God_, upon which imm…
792 wordsSECTION 27_The Church On The Field Of History._
One brief concluding remark ought to be made. The epistles now considered ought to be sufficient in themselves to show that the Apocalypse is not a series of visions intended only to illustrate one or two ideas which had taken a strong hold of the Apostle's mind, or one or two great principles of the Divine government …
336 wordsSECTION 28Footnotes:
[24] Chaps. vii. 2; viii. 2; xiv. 6, 8, 9; xv. 1, 6. [25] Chap. xiv. 15. [26] Chaps. i. 1; xx. 1; xxii. 6. [27] Chap. xvi. 5. [28] Chap. xiv. 18. [29] Chap. vii. 1. [30] Chap. ix. 11. [31] Chap. i. 4. [32] Chap. ii. 1. [33] Chap. ii. 8. [34] Chap. ii. 12. [35] Chap. ii. 18. [36] Chap. iii. 1. [37] Chap. ii…
320 wordsSECTION 29_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
REV. iv., v. We have seen in considering the first chapter of the Apocalypse that the book as a whole is to be occupied with the Church's struggle in the world; and in the second and third chapters the Church herself has been placed before us as she occupies her position upon the field of history. But the struggle has…
707 wordsSECTION 30_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
The _first voice_ here spoken of is the voice of chap. i. 10: "And I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet;" and it is well to remember that that voice introduced the vision of a Son of man who, while both King and Priest, was King and Priest in judgment. It is impossible to doubt that the sound of the same vo…
766 wordsSECTION 31_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
Up to this point we have been beholding a royal court; in the words now quoted the priestly element comes in. The _glassy sea_ naturally leads the thoughts to the great brazen laver known as the brazen sea which stood in the court of Solomon's temple between the altar and the sanctuary, and at which the priests cleanse…
1,220 wordsSECTION 32_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
The Seer has beheld the audience-chamber of the Godhead in itself. He has seen also the Divine Being who is there clothed with majesty, and those who wait upon Him. He next passes to another thought:-- And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that …
670 wordsSECTION 33_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a roll of a book written within and on the back, close sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the roll, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the e…
876 wordsSECTION 34_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
The eagerly desired explanation follows:-- And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came, and …
765 wordsSECTION 35_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
Such is the Lamb; and He now comes, _and hath taken the roll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne_. Let us note the words "hath taken." It is not "took." St. John sees the Lamb not only take the roll, but keep it. It is His,--His as the Son, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; His by …
749 wordsSECTION 36_Anticipations Of The Church'S Victory._
Even this is not all. There is a third stage in the ascending scale, a third circle formed for the widening song:-- And everything which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, b…
473 wordsSECTION 37_The Sealed Roll Opened._
[87] Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. [88] Ps. ix. 7. [89] Chap. xxi. 11. [90] Isa. vi. 3. [91] 1 Pet. ii. 6, 8. [92] Heb. xii. 28, 29. [93] Ps. xcix. 1. [94] Exod. xxvi. 1. [95] Comp. _Bible Educator_, vol. iii., p. 290, where the writer has discussed this subject at some length. [96] Rom. viii. 21. [97] Job ix. …
846 wordsSECTION 38_The Sealed Roll Opened._
This prospect is inseparably associated with the Second Coming of Him who is now concealed from our view; and therefore the cry of the whole waiting creation, whether animate or inanimate, to its Lord is _Come_. The cry, too, and that not only in the case of the first living creature, but (according to a rule of interp…
684 wordsSECTION 39_The Sealed Roll Opened._
The second Seal is now broken, and the second rider follows:-- And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And another horse came forth, a red horse: and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slaughter one another: and there …
1,023 wordsSECTION 40_The Sealed Roll Opened._
Nothing has yet been said of the last clause of this judgment: _The oil and the wine hurt thou not._ The words are generally regarded as a limitation of the severity of the famine previously described, and as a promise that even in judging God will not execute all His wrath. The interpretation can hardly be accepted. N…
829 wordsSECTION 41_The Sealed Roll Opened._
It is not easy to say why authority is given death and Hades over no more than _the fourth part_ of the earth, when we might rather have expected that their dominion would be extended over the whole. The question may be asked whether it is possible so to understand the Seer as to connect a "fourth part" of the earth, n…
735 wordsSECTION 42_The Sealed Roll Opened._
1. Let us observe how these martyrs are designated. They had been slain _for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held_. But that is not the full expression of _Christian_ testimony. As we read in many other passages of the book before us, Christians have "the testimony _of Jesus_."[144] The addition neede…
744 wordsSECTION 43_The Sealed Roll Opened._
Putting all these passages together, we are distinctly taught that in the language of the Apocalypse the "white robe" denotes that perfect righteousness of Christ, both external and internal, which is bestowed upon the believer from the moment when he is by faith made one with Jesus. It is that more perfect justificati…
813 wordsSECTION 44_The Sealed Roll Opened._
For this kingdom then the saints of the Old Testament, together with all their "brethren" under the New Testament, who like them are faithful unto death, now wait; and the opening of the sixth Seal tells us that it is at hand:-- And I saw when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun be…
1,036 wordsSECTION 45_The Sealed Roll Opened._
Highly coloured, therefore, as the language used under the sixth Seal may appear to us, to the Jew, animated by the spirit of the Old Testament, it was simply that in which he had been accustomed to express his expectation of any new dispensation of the Almighty, of any striking crisis in the history of the world. When…
700 wordsSECTION 46_The Sealed Roll Opened._
Although, therefore, the language of the prophets and of this passage may at first sight appear to be marked by far too great a measure both of strength and of severity to make it applicable to the Gospel age, it is in reality neither too strong nor too severe. It is at variance only with the verdict of that superficia…
349 wordsSECTION 47_Consolatory Visions._
[132] Isa. lxiv. 1. [133] Isa. xli. 2. [134] Ezek. vi. 11; Matt. xxiv. 6-8. [135] Isa. xxxii. 18. [136] Lev. xxvi. 26. [137] Ezek. iv. 16, 17. [138] Comp. Matt. xx. 2. [139] Ps. xxiii. 5. [140] John x. 10. [141] Ps. civ. 15. [142] Ps. ix. 15. [143] Lev. iv. 7. [144] Comp. chaps. i. 2, 9; xi. 7; xii. 11, 17;…
854 wordsSECTION 48_Consolatory Visions._
With the beginning of chap. vii. we might expect the seventh Seal to be opened; but it is the manner of the apocalyptic writer, before any final or particularly critical manifestation of the wrath of God, to present us with visions of consolation, so that we may enter into the thickest darkness, even into the valley of…
684 wordsSECTION 49_Consolatory Visions._
In the midst of all this the safety of the righteous is secured, and that in a way, as compared with the way of the Old Testament, proportionate to the superior greatness of their privileges. They are marked as God's, not by a man out of the city, but by an _angel ascending from the sun-rising_, the quarter whence proc…
827 wordsSECTION 50_Consolatory Visions._
2. It is the custom of the Seer to heighten and spiritualize all Jewish names. The Temple, the Tabernacle, the Altar, Mount Zion, and Jerusalem are to him the embodiments of ideas deeper than those literally conveyed by them. Analogy therefore might suggest that this also would be the case with the word "Israel." Nay, …
687 wordsSECTION 51_Consolatory Visions._
6. The sealed are marked upon their _foreheads_, and in chap. xxii. 4 all believers are marked in a similar way. 7. We shall meet again this number of a hundred and forty-four thousand in chap. xiv.; and, while it can hardly be doubted that the same persons are on both occasions included in it, it will be seen that th…
938 wordsSECTION 52_Consolatory Visions._
We are thus entitled to conclude that the hundred and forty-four thousand of this first consolatory vision represent not Jewish Christians only, but the whole Church of God, and that the number used is intended to represent completeness: not one member of the true Church is lost.[181] Twelve, a sacred number, the numbe…
1,066 wordsSECTION 53_Consolatory Visions._
Such was the scene the main particulars of which are here made use of by the apocalyptic Seer to set before us the triumphant and glorious condition of the Church when, after all her members have been sealed, they are admitted to the full enjoyment of the blessings of God's covenant, and when, washed in the blood of th…
716 wordsSECTION 54_Consolatory Visions._
The conclusion may be accepted without the "hesitation." The colours on the canvas may indeed at first appear too bright for any condition of things on this side the grave. But they are not more bright than those employed in the description of the new Jerusalem in chap. xxi.; and, when we come to the exposition of that…
921 wordsSECTION 55_The First Six Trumpets._
[168] Ps. ii. 7; cx. 7. [169] Ezek. ix. [170] Amos ix. 1-3. [171] John vi. 27. [172] Cant. viii. 3. [173] 2 Tim. ii. 19. [174] Comp. Luke xii. 8. [175] Rom. ix. 6; Gal. vi. 16. [176] Chap. i. 7. [177] Comp. chap. xii. 9. [178] John xiii. 2. [179] Chaps. xiii. 16, 17; xiv. 9; xvi. 2; xix. 20; xx. 4. [180] Th…
654 wordsSECTION 56_The First Six Trumpets._
Again, the larger portion of the first six verses of this chapter does not suggest the contents of the Seal. Rather would it seem as if these contents were confined to the "silence" spoken of in ver. 1, and as if what follows from ver. 2 to ver. 6 were to be regarded as no part of the Seal itself, but simply as introdu…
709 wordsSECTION 57_The First Six Trumpets._
That preparation is next described. St. John saw _seven trumpets_ given to _the seven angels which stand before God_. In whatever other respects these seven angels are to be distinguished from the hosts of angels which surround the throne, the commission now given shows that they are angels of a more exalted order and…
703 wordsSECTION 58_The First Six Trumpets._
Further, it ought to be observed that the prayers referred to are for judgment upon sin. There is nothing to justify the supposition that they are partly for judgment upon, partly for mercy to, a sinful world. They are simply another form of the cry, "How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and aveng…
752 wordsSECTION 59_The First Six Trumpets._
The second Trumpet is now blown:-- And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and there died the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, even they that had life; and the third part of the ships was de…
833 wordsSECTION 60_The First Six Trumpets._
The fourth Trumpet is now blown:-- And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like manner (viii. 12)…
843 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.