The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 245

EXPOSITION. as distingufahed from the tt:JJth 11ngel (®, O;HAPTER X. ix. 13). There is not suffloient reason Cot Ver. l.-'-And I saw. We·have here the supposing that ,Christ is meant. Wherever commencement of what many writers. call our Lord is referred to in the,Revelati011,Jt au episode, or rather two episodes, whicb is always in.a mode whioh can.not poMibly intervene ·between the sixth and seventh, be mistaken (of. ch •. i.13; v. 6, etc.). St. trumpets, just as oh. vii. occurs between the John's position is now upon the earth. In sixth and seventh seals. But as in the tho vision he is either in heaven or on the latter place we saw 011ly a. greater elabo111- eafth, as required. He thus &ee& the angel tion in the introduction to the seventh ireal, appareutly coming down from heaven. aiid·not a dct!IChed relation, so .here eh. x. Clothed. with a cloud. . The symbol of and xi. 'l-14' fol'm a gradual tr=ition majesty (of. Exod. xvi. 10; Luke xxi. ,i'l ~ from the sixth• to the seventh trumpet, a.nd oh. i•.7, etc.)•. And a. rainbow was upon Ide aupplemeutl what is set forth under those head, a.nd his faoe .was as it were the •ua. trumpets.· The pMsage · is so far a digres• a.nd his feet as pillars oUire. Omit " waa.'r sion, as it is occupied chiefly in setttng '£he description shows the celestial digoi~ forth the fa:te of the Church rather thau of the messenger. Pe1·hap11 there is a refe1'"'; that of the ungodly; but it only docs ao to eoce in the rai,abma to themuoiful character demonstrate the wickedness of the world, of this angel's mission, ru:id,ihe faithfu~ antl thei inevitable nature of the last great and patience of God. The tw() last ol&IJ888 punisliment. Oh. ix. ends (almost in a tone express the same idea, viz. the bright and of surprise) with the words, "Neither re- glorious appearance or the angel God'.1 pented they," etc.; therefore the-angel now glory is retlected in his m88118npr, as declares that, as all the warnings vouchsafed formerly it wu in Moses (Exod. :u:xi,.. have brought men as a. whole no nearer to 29, 30). . God, the last final punishment must now Ver. 2.-And he ha.d in his ha.nd a little fall; But, as if the meaaure of God'■ mercy book open. 'EX"'"• "ha.ving,"isreadin K, A, were not yet fully filled up, it is shown how B, 0, P; el'x~v, "he had," in a few OlUl!iYes, he·has given to the w-0rld two witneBBes, by the Vnlgate, Andreas, Arethas, Prim1111ius. which men might be induoed to repent. The meaning is the &11me. The wortl But this,·too, only serves to add to the /3,{:l/\api~wv, "little book," is a diminutive of condemnation of the world, which wrests Jihf!,Aiov (eh. v. 1), which is it.self a diminu- this gift to its own destruction. We thus tive of {:li/3Aos. This form of the word i1 have the oonneotion. God has sent punish- found nowhere else ; the corresponding ments as warnings. But he not only has usual form is {:l,/!,A,3aplov. Tbe bopk is done this, he has also given direct instruc- probably littk in comparison with t~ in tion by the witness of his Word; man has eh. v. 1. The la.Uer contained all God'■ despised both; therefore the end.must come. purpos~, and the seer was not permitted Although the main object of the trumpet• to read it-only part was indiuated to him. visions is to set forth the woes inllicted upon This book contains only a small portion or the wicked, yet the seer, as it were, heaitateH God's methods of dealing with man, and Si. to indicate the last dread punishment until John is commanded to receive the whole. he hu alluded to the op1>0rtuniliea whiob The contente are indicated in ver. 11 and God has afforded mankind of esoaping that the following chapter. The book is open, u end.·. Another mighty angel come doWll. a sign that wbt is contained therein ia to from heavn. ; coming dmon out of heaven be revealed. Bede thinks the New Testa- (Revised Version). So in ibe vision or the ment is signifted by it; Wordsworth &eea in 8fflla, at this pomt the advent of Gnother it the spiritual power of Rome; Bengsten- awgel 111ben in the following incidents berg collBiden ~t it contains the judgment (oh. vii 51), Be if probably 11notliet- Gngei BEVEL.\TION, . of the degenerate Ohurch. And. he Mt, hi■ 21-l 'l'BE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVDTE. [OB. i. 1_.;_ll