The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 84

· Vera. 18--29.-,..Epistle to the <Jhwrch. at ThyaUra. Careful read?rs of these Jettera -1ll ob~l!;how in this and, the foregoing ones St. John. seenµi to, .be contemplating grea,t h1stoncal eve1;tts recorded. in t,he Old Testament. In thfl first, the allusion. to ~• the tree <if life" and the " Paradiije of (:loo." call'iea ,us. back tq the li/;ory of the Fall and *h~ e~puls.ion from $den. rl?: the 118Cpnd, Noah and t¥ Flood are apparently referre~ to m the promise of life. as the reward of fidelity, and the not being" hurt of the &e00nd.death;" for the FIOQd was the second death of humaip.ty, and the waters of the Flood may point 1111 to that awfi.i.l lake by which the ungo4Jy at the last shall be over- whelmed, and which, St. John calls the second death. In tlJ.e third, the wilderne11S-life of Israel, the. ruin wrought on them by Balaam, and "the manna" whicl:i was thelr food,- th!WI form the groundwork ,of the letter to Pergamos. Then in the fourth, that before us nqw, we-come on to th~ times of the monarchy, aqtj. the.t ,dark period when ~ah ruled onr the norJ;hem kingdom, and,Jer,;ebel led hi~lmci his people into all the ,vile- ness of idolatry. A thorough .Jew as St. John W!>¾ and having complete knowledge of t.h11 ancfont Scriptures, they being his one hook, would be quick to find analogies and illust~ti,ons of the spiritual oondition of the Church~ in the oheckered history of man- .kind; au.d sspeoia.llY. of Israel, as recorded .in those j3criptures. And the tragedy-for it ,waa no less-associated wi.th Jezebel (cf. 'Macbeth,' and see whence Shakespeare got his IU\.!_>l1'lti1,lil); and tbeJlashing. fire in the eyes of ,the fierce Jehu, and the burnished br~ss Q(, his. swift-revolv:ing chariot-wheels as he f11rio,usly drove along on his jqurney of ,:vengeaupe to slay the, proud,,idolatrous qu5E1n who had led ·~. Israel aat~,-:-:-this &liemg~ ;iµight ,well come into the mind of .St. John as he thought of the spiritual tragedy at,Tl;i.ya.tira, and of e.n avenger more.awful still, "'tbe Son of (;-od," whose eyes were,:! as a, ~a.me of fire and his feet like molten bra85," a~d .w:h.o was swiftly hastening to take vengeance on the guilty leader of whom Jezebel was the ·prototype, and that {luilty Church•. A fit name. for this letter )Vould be " 'l'h,e wrath of the Lamb," for much concerning that wrath is shown in it: · I. ITS REALITY. The letter is full of fearfulness to th.ose whom it conce:fns, and was .wit,hout doubt intended so to be. 'l'herejs scarc11 a soft,.gentle word in it, but all 'is stern from first to last. The inscriptif•I/,, the contents, the very promises at the end, are all marked. by the same character. T~e Church had connived at, or a.t least had offered no strenuous opposition to, most awful .and flagrant wrong, which had been taught .and practised in her very midst; and in the wrath tpat this aroused all their righteous- n.~s-and they had ml).ch~is little more than nam.ed, and s(;lems scarcely llJ.er.itioned. The.l~ter is harcUy !'IJ.YtWng _elS:fil th!m one vehement outpouring of the Lord's wrath and ~hreatenings of his sor.e, dj.spleaeure. The symbols show this. The eyes like as a f!&m!l of fire, and, the fee,~ of,incandescent, glowing, molten brass, suggest s~ro~ly the twin. ideas of rage and rutlal,ess re39lve to execut.e it upon those against w4om it is direeted. They bring %fore us a ,truly terrible aspect of the character of out' Lord, .but one which is rea1 and a.ctualt though far too much ignored both in thought and w,aching. We .l!&y and sing.far too exclusively, "Gentl(;l Jesus, meek.and mild;" ·and this, no~withstanding the:very qospels themselves give not a few indications of a power of holy and awful anger which he who so graciously took up littl!l children in his 11rms yet evidenf;ly had. withqi him. Hearken how he. speaks to the scribes ·and Pharis110s; listen to ]:i.is.rejter!'ted "woes" denounced upon· hypocrites; and observe as a momentous fact that th!l WQSt fearful utterances of the whole Bible fell from our Saviour's lipi,. And t;hiii;Bpqk_ of the Re~elation, is it not like the prophet's scroll, written both within .and wJth<1iit, and full ,of scarce. ariytWng but '' laQ:ienta.tion and mourning and woe" ? And all of it is the Lord's doing, either directly or through his ao-ents. The Bible, therefore, gives but little countenance to that far too general idea that the character of Christ 'is only gentleness and love. .And there is, and there ought to be, no such character anywhere. That love which is said to go out to every- body generally goes to nobody in particular, except the. man's own self above all. It is a mere easiness and softness, utt.erly unreliable, and of little moral worth. But when $here ia real love, the obverae side will be a oorr11sponding wrath agaui.st all t~_t}pju,es what UlliKl much lov.ed. What ,ill t.end~, .,nd at the same time fie,rcer, than a ~other's lovie ? ·. Even ~ t~e beasl;B of. the field it !& so. . A bea.i: rophed of J1e;r iW:Mlps,. woe hit.kle the despoiler 1f the 1q0the1' overtake hiiµ I ~d all that wrath, wlili,}r is told of ill the Bible, and especially in this book, those eyes which, agafn11t t;he Jeae~ tlia~ CII. .n.1-29.] THE ~VELATION OF ST, J0RN THE. DIVINJ!l. '-~