The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 127

EXPOSITlON, CHAPTER IV. openecLin heaven{ 'or, an open door, 11' hmuta.. St. Jobn·did not aee the action'i>f ·This is the commenceinent of the seqond opening the door, but he saw a door whilih great. divillioo, whichembmces eh. iv.-xxii. had been aet open, through whieh he infgn• 5, that in which the revelation, properly ao gaze, and observe what passed within. 'All- called, takes place. Ch. iv. an-d v. contain ford contrasts Ezek~ i. 1; Matt. iii. l6: the :first of the seven visioDB, which is itself Acts vii. 66; x. 11, where "the heaven wu opened;" and aupposes that the seer is t'rane- a: prelude Co the rest. . ported through the open door into heaven, Ver.1.-After'tbill; or, after 0,- thing, from which posit~ he 'sees hea-ven, and (µ~.,.a Tawa). There is no good groQJld for views all that happens on the earth. Vie- supposing, as some do, that, after the even_ts . tozinns aptly compares the open door to the· mrrated in oh. iiL, an interval ooonrrt:ld in · goapeL And tile tint voioe whioh I heard; the .vis\ims, during w_hich St. John pQSsibly u it were, of a trumpet talking with me. wrote down .the m11,tter contained in the Omit the- 0 was" which -follows, as well as· fftsti three chap,ters. _Nor is there any justili- the colon which precedes, and repeat "a ation- for assigning vltat follows to a time voiee," aa in the Revised Version:· .dntl, alter this world. It would be pressing TGvrra behold, an·oi- door i11 hea11611,-an<l ~ Jfnl very far to make'it apply fA;i theae present tl()illll wkich 1 hea,.d, ~ mice ~l•ich "'!JI, u' things of the world: and µ.,,,.a .,.,.;;.,... cer- ii 1M'e, of a hmp,,I. The -vOiee liignifled tainly need not mean "the things after this is not the fird, but the former• voice-: Ti~· world." The expression is used here in its that already beard and described in oh. i. 10; onH1uny,_ natural sense: "..lfter -having seen The posse1Bor or the voice ,ls not indioe.ted. this,' i saw," etc.:. introducing some new Stier(' Heden Jesu ') attributes thevoioe-» phase or var~ety of spectacle. _ I loajted; <1r, Christ; but ii seems ni.ther that of an ·angel, I_•aw (,13011). No fresh act oflookfug_is, or at any rate not' that of Christ, Wmll8' ■ignifled. I ,aw in the Spirit, as formerly voiee in eh. i. 15 is described u "of many · (eh. i 10, 1'2). Anll, behold, a door; or, 11:aters," not. u .. or a trumpet." Whiah and; behold, a door, mui· the first voice. Such. ,aid. The voiee (<f,00"'1) becotnea JDIM!Onlin•l ia. the construction of the Greek.. W~ (Ary,,,.,). Though tohou voice i. not stated, 144: 'l'BB REVELATION 011' ST. JOHN "rim DIVINE. [CB. rr. 1-11. , :,eUhe -.ividne111r and reality: of the -.ilrion like, ~t&: or, A., Dud «rt l~ i1l ~ • e e ,«.-,- the writer to speak of thewiccaa the (.Spatr••). Th'e 1"0rd /Spcw<S ia found in thfs ~ boing wholJ!. ii l!ignifie'- . Coma v,ene and in two other placee only in the up iiwaer. · That .is ui the Spirit-cfor the New Tlll!~ent, vis. •in Act,. iL 11 (where apileUe "unmediately waa in the Spirit" it.is pari of a quotation from Joel) and ia (v8l'. 2). He wall to ·.ffll8il'8. a yet l:tigher cli. ix. 17. In the latter place the expres- fmi ht iat.o spqitual things (et. 2 eo.. lion is b ""D dpdn,, and the pl'8116nce of the '£ ':i'il. where St. Paul 1'118 ••ca11ght up into the Chud heaven"). An« I will ahow thee. Pl'6position, together withc the article, aeema to jllBtify the rendering "in the ·viiion." ,Jt 19.uot neoeN8J'Y, with Stier (iiee above on In the Septuagint 3pa.o-,y ii fr~uently uae4 Ter.1), t.o Infer that theae words are Christ's. to signify either "vision., or "aP-pearance" Though Crom him all the revelation comes, (see 1 ·&m. iii. l; ha. L 1; Lam. ii. 9: lie ma:, well 1188 the ministry of angels Ezek. vii. IS: Dan.- i. 17 and viii. 1: Oba:d~ through whom to signify his will ftinp l; Nab( L J;; Bab. ii, 2; and many othen;. ·whieh m.ut behenafter; or,Ule.Uwngauhich where it is "vision;'' Also Jw:lg. xiii. 6; 'mtut. hazipe_n Jae,,eaftff. The things whioh Ezek. i. $, IS, 26-28.;, Don. viii. 15; Noh. 'It ia ~ t Bho1Jld. hapPE!ll, and which, there- ii. 4; . I Sam. xvi, 12;.. and maiiy othen,, l'ore, tnun needs happen (le,). "Hereafter" where H ill." appearanllil "), Iii the elm.ea. {,<,.,.a: .,.cvra) : u before in ver. 1, but in a 3pcpa. 11igni.ftes a " visioy :,:', ¥iir1.t, "sight.'' tmnewh&t more general and ls6a de:ftnite the power of 1188ing: 4Juper ancl..a l&ldine :aense-d aome time after_ thi,; but when atone. The 1~ .was the last, and tlie precisely is not stated. The full atop may ,af"diu, the first atone of the hidl priest'• ~b!y be better. plllOell bef'ote "hereafter;" breastplate (Exod; xxviii. 17). The jasper an wh10h eaile•"hareafter"' would introduce was the filllt. ~µd the sardius the ahth of the following phrase, exactly as before in the foundationa of the heavenly Jeruaalem this ve,ae. There ill no •• and;" 1t11i, .though (eh. xxi. 19, 20),_ Much den~t ia at~bed' in the Tlilnlll ~ptu. ia omitted bi the • t.o the whole subJect 1:6 the preeloua ·ltonea boo ipanuscripts. , of the Bible.· J The modem jaspel'ie opaque.' Ver. 2...,...i..na immadJate11 l wu, m the . wl41e .it i s . ~ ' tbat the.,ja,iper:of tila Spirit. Omit "and" (see above), ao that 'Revelation is remarkable for its translucent the pauage may be rendered, .A/te,, tlaeM character (see ah. xxi. 11, "jaaper · stone, U.ing,, immediatelg, I t11a1 i• the Spirit; clear as crystal:" ui. 18, "The building of a new IC8lle waa opened out. aa before(in the w-11 of it was of jasper; and the city ver. 1). St. John "·aa already in the Spirit; was ·pure gold, like unto clear glaa,s "). U but now receives • fJ'llllh outpouring of is evident that the- stone waa ebaraoterized l?808:! enabling him to aee yet more deeply by purity and brilliancy-featurea whioh int.o the myBteriea .of the kingdom of God; seem to point it out as the modern diamond. ~ Jiehokl, • ilarone was ll8t in heaven; The vuying eolour, whioh, aooording to or, a fAf'OM u,cu ,Uual«l (t,m-ro).. There is ai>me authorities, the jasper poaee88ed, is not no action of placing or setting up. Compare i~oonsislent with this view:•. It is ourious, too, &be villion of Ezekiel, "la the firmament that in. Exod. xxviii 18. the Hebrew 01~. that was above the head of the ch8l'llbims which in the Authorized Version it rendem there appeared over them u it were a "diamond," ia repreaented. in the LXX. iiapphire 11tone, u the appeanuceof the like- by fon-1~: while in veL 20, ~J the English nfl!IB of a throne" (Ezek. L 1), where the •• jasper," is owx1or. The -diiu was the throne appears above.the cherubim, in the carnelian, always red, though .aomewhat poeilien of the cloud of glory ( cf. also Iiia. vL varying in shade. The. name·-~ been 1, 2. where the seraphim am above). And va.rioll81y deri~ed from (I) the· l'eraian one 1at on the throne. Probably the i.rrlune ,er-ea, yellowish red ; (2). Bardis, u the God,, to whom the Truagion in ver. 8 :ia first place of ibl discovery; (S) while car- addressed. .Some have thought that the nelian ia connected with cameu,, as being i'"tl:ier ia indicated, in contradistinction to of the colour of raw Slesli. But (4) Bkeat the other Persona.of the Holy Trinity, and derive11 the word from coniu, a horn; the tpat it is.from him that the Son takes the term being thua. an alluaion to the ~ - a book ia .eh,. v. 8. But u Corneliu Lapide tranaparent nat1l1'8 of the atone. The p~ l'fiQlarQ, "The Son as Man tnay ;v-ell be jasper, together with the red sardius, may 1lilid, eepccially in a inlblime vision like·thia, fitly t_ypifT God's purity and mercy together to come t.o God." The Persoa is not named, with h111 J118tice and judgment. And .there ~use (1) the Name of God is inoom- was . a rainbow :round about the throne. Jll.un~ble; it is the "new Name" (see on The Greek !Ju,, which is ~ed here,ill not eh. ~iL 12}; or (2) becanae ibe.eeer deacribea fotmd in the LXX., whe1& .,.J!o1d1 invariably o~ly what ia sesn; or (S) it is auppreseed found, probably to avoid reference to a term &elm a sense of reverence. which was ao pre-eminently heathen. The Ver. 3.-Aml heth&t satwu to look upon minbow it here, as alway, (188 Gen. h. 12, aa. ff. 1-U.) THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINB. Bf