[375] John xii. 36-38.
[376] Vers. 42, 50.
[377] Ps. cxxxiii. 3.
[378] Ps. ix. 11.
[379] Ps. lxxviii. 68.
[380] Ps. xiv. 7.
[381] Ps. ii. 6, 7.
[382] Isa. xxxv. 10.
[383] Heb. xii. 22-24.
[384] Ps. xlviii. 2.
[385] Comp. Lee in _Speaker's Commentary in loc._ The distinction between the two references is there wrongly given.
[386] 2 Cor. xi. 2.
[387] 1 John v. 20, 21.
[388] John xxi. 22.
[389] Chaps. xxi. 27; xxii. 15.
[390] Heb. ix. 14; 1 Pet. i. 19.
[391] Rom. xi. 16; xvi. 5; 1 Cor. xv. 20; xvi. 15.
[392] James i. 18.
[393] Rom. viii. 21.
[394] Isa. lv. 12.
[395] Ps. xcvi. 13.
[396] Chaps. xvii. 1; xviii. 7.
[397] Comp. chaps. xi. 9; xiii. 7.
[398] Comp. James ii. 19.
[399] Chaps. viii., xv.
[400] They are so rendered in the margin of the Revised Version.
[401] Jude 7 (margin of R.V.).
[402] Rom. vii.
[403] Comp. p. 108.
[404] Matt. ix. 37, 38; xiii. 29, 30.
[405] John xiv. 3.
[406] John v. 19.
[407] Mark xiii. 32.
[408] Comp. the "dried up" of the margin of the Revised Version.
[409] John v. 30.
[410] Joel iii. 12, 13.
[411] Isa. lxiii. 2-4.
[412] Ver. 15.
[413] Zech. xiv. 20.
[414] Comp. 1 Cor. ix. 24.
[415] Matt. xiii. 41.
[416] Matt. xiii. 49, 50.
[417] Vaughan, _u. s._, p. 378.
REV. xv., xvi.
Nothing can more clearly prove that the Revelation of St. John is not written upon chronological principles than the scenes to which we are introduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book. We have already been taken to the end. We have seen in chap. xiv. the Son of man upon the throne of judgment, the harvest of the righteous, and the vintage of the wicked. Yet we are now met by another series of visions setting before us judgments that must take place before the final issue. This is not chronology; it is apocalyptic vision, which again and again turns round the kaleidoscope of the future, and delights to behold under different aspects the same great principles of the Almighty's government, leading always to the same glorious results.
One other preliminary observation may be made. The third series of judgments does not really begin till we reach chap. xvi. Chap. xv. is introductory, and we are thus reminded that the series of the Trumpets had a similar introduction in chap. viii. 1-6. It is the manner of St. John, who thus in his Gospel introduces his account of our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus in chap. iii. by the last three verses of chap. ii., which ought to be connected with the third chapter; and who also introduces his narrative regarding the woman of Samaria by the first three verses of chap. iv.
To introduce chap. xvi. is the object of chap. xv.
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God (xv. 1).
The plagues about to be spoken of are "the last," and in them the final judgments of God upon evil are contained. What they are, and who are the special objects of them, will afterwards appear. Meanwhile, another vision is presented to our view:--
And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire; and them that come victorious out of the beast, and out of his image, and out of the number of his name, standing upon the glassy sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest (xv. 2-4).