The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 223

Angels are miln in lighter hl!')litclad, . : _ , __ ,;, High o'er oolestilll motl1ttalils wihl!,l3ll in tliglit,. · Ami men aro angeld loadc,l Cur an hour, · , · .!{ Who-wfldo_tbie miry v1ttii,and climb with pain -A·nd slippery 1tep; the bottom of the steep." '" .· ·1· . ; ,\.,.; .?.),>~. Qut on iruch a thilme as this we want Scripture, and not poetry, to tell us whilr• are to believQ-; and from Scripture we gathe,:: (1) ·That there is no being ,higher -i-a111at,... thl\n man eJi:cept GQd himself. F-0r man 'was created in Uie· irnage-aiii1 likenw·of,ffoc Now,- is an augel more than this?. Could he be more 'WiUrout being Goo. \>r ,fteaee, however Mellcled and gloriotta the. condition tif angels may.hi; in .natuce -ibey aN 11M and cannot be hi~lier than man. (2) And if they be a different order .'df .being, Ctom men, beings of another nature and kind, why, then, were men created at all P If _the motl:v'e of our .heavenly Father. i0; creating man was, ils we. bel:ine it t;d,· fiiwe'blen-1oo gather round him .a •race of plire, holy, happy beings, bis children, Olli whom he,migbi lavish his love, and in whose blessed companionship he-might for ever rejoilld;"ifd;.- were already such a race of bdngs in exio!tence, why waa man formllii? ' Wby-waa be Jllade to pa118 through all the manifold miseries of this· Life, its unnumbered mrl1fanil IIOl'rQ\\>S, if a.lre3dy there were· an infinite host who from the first weni already w.h&i Dllfil can Ohly•beootne after so many and so great struggles and triahi and cares?- If .0 the 113nctity and blessedne88 of the angelic char,ictcr could exist ·wnhoilt all nmrll preliminary sorrow, for what reason, then, was unhappy man created? But if, on the qther hand. it be true that there is no other entrance t.o the angelic etal:e tlian this- weary life of ours, and if in order that we may be angels. it is necessary· that we firat be men, then the mystery of life, often so mournful a myster.y, has some light shednpoli U, and we can bear it· more patiently. Bat if-all that man is to be could becuit&iued> without his trials, as on the common belief in .regard ·to angels it•could;, then, lnli1'1WI not ask," To what purpose is this waste?" (3): These angels are in Scripture callld men•. See the, angel that wrestled with Jacob; that appelired to" Joshua, to Maoah; the three angels that came to Abraham, :are called "the three men;" the· angel· thar appeared as, a writer to Ezekiel and p:,.ssim both in the Old 'l'estament and' in thea New Testament. (4) And there isno proof that theywere,onlymeninappea,abce ancl not in.reality. Why sho~ld the~ not be-'what i!'- appearance,and nan. we;r;~m. to' be? (6) And onr Lord said that m the resurrection we shall be 44 art the ~• Anti in. the Epistle to the Hebrews we are said· t<> have "come to ·••• myriads ot wgehJ,, to' the general assembly 1100 Chu:rch·of the Firstborn, ••• and: t<J:the lfpirit.s of, llil jilllt made perfeci." But do not these three expressions tell of different theta in cdDJiOOti611 with,-not different, bnt the same persona? '"Certainly "'thlr lp'irits of juW men· made perfect" are the same as "the general assembly and Church of the Flrstbom," arid if io,' they are the same as the "myriads of angels.." 3.; Ana all"tkM•ia ""' sdaifde b,J·Uw atatements in 2 Peter <Jnd in the Epistle of Jt«le. In-both these 0Epb1tle11 it is'eaid tha• God "spared not the angels tha.t sinm·d, but cast them down int<> hell" U ill oh thesGI statements, amplified and enlarged by Milt.o~ and others, th&t the popular belief is ha.sad. But it is to be noted that the two statements in these' Epistles bu\ .are copies one of another or of some common document. Place the paesages side ~ ~ • and this will be evident, the writer of 2 Peter probably copying from Jude. •And--if is not to be forgotten that the canonical authority of these two Epistles is the ¥,ililf/am!I lowest of all tho Scriptures. But even were it not so, the source whence- their s(aMf.' ments on this question are taken is well known. They are· a quotation from tb.61: apocryphal Book of Enoch-a book of no authority and little worthi but whioh'wu' familiar to those t-0 whom these Epistles were written; and, hence, illustrations dta,ral from it, whether true or not, would serve the writers' purpose, and a.re therefore use of. It therefore cannot be allowed that these two isolated statements-though t!ief m.- are one rather than two, and of such doubtful anthority-should set aside wha\ Serl~· ture and reason alike teach on this most interllSting thome. ·· · · t~ ';t'IIE REV-ELATION 011' BT. JOHN THE DIVINE. [mr. rin. 1-1& ------------------------'-~----------------""' ~ · Ooxm.~·s10N: See 110me of the consequences of this underst31iding concerning th~ angell. ~ ·lle /utUN life.becomea far more·mu to as. For .now· that we have identified the anj!;els, as we t,binlt ~as been do~e, ~ith "the spirits of just men made perfect," we ere deliTimld from that·vagueness of idea as to those who have gone away from 118 through their having dled in the Lord. They Aie no longer formle.•s, incorporeal, unimagizm~le beings, mist and. cloud-like rather than human, but we k~ow that it is as the disciples 'believed ~'the angel, the spirit of their Master resembled him. His reBWTection-body did reaemble bis former material body so that he could be recog- nized as we know he was.. 2•. And we know some of tbe occupations of that heawnly state. So long as we regarded angels as a different order of beings from redeemed men, ,we could.not regard their work a& that which one day shall be ours. But looking upon ._,aa·ooraelvea aa "we shall, be," we can see what vast store of holy employ and lilol'ed· service awaits us. See their manifold service as shown in this chapter only. J:&a.TI!l:l is not an everlasting sitting on "green and flowery mounts," an "eternity of the tabor;" as one has described it, but· a life of holy and bleBBed service for God and far) mau.-S. c. · {, ~ ~ .;- ~