The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 319

"He • • • osst his sickle upon the earth.• The final reaping is under the superintend• ence of the Son of man. Ver. 17, "Another angel ••• he slso having a sharp sickle.• ~he ministry of angels will be employed by our Lord in gathering in the harvest (Matt. xiii.). Ver. 18, "Another ••• he that hath power over fire.,. Each of our Lord's,· host has his own department of. service. "Her grapes are fully ripe"- })ave reaohed .the acme of ripeness,-their full growth. Ver. 19, "The angel ••• gathered the vintage of the'earth." As believers are branches in Christ, the living Vine, bringing forth good fruit, and only good, so there shall be an earthly product, a mimicry of the heavenly, bringing forth bad fruit, and only bad. "And cast it into the wine-press ••• of the wrath of God." A striking figure drawn from the Old Teatament (see Isa. ixiii. 1-6). As there, so here, the treading of grapes in the wine-press represents thE defeat ofthe foes of God and of his Church. Ver. 20," Without the city." The Church is the city of God. All the wicked are outside of it. "There came out blood from the wine-press" (cf. Gen. xlix. 11; Deut. xxxii.14). The sap of the grape ls called the blood of the grape, as being the element of its life. In. an actual materisl conflict actual blood would be shed. Here the ,whole of the reality is in the spiritual realm, though the figures are drswn from the niaterial. The main, yea, the sole thought ia the -0eleat of the enemies of God. "Blood ••. even unto the bridles of the horses." It la nid in eh. xix. 14," The armies which were in heaven followed upon white horses," eto. The hosts of God ever have, ever do, ever will, join him in trampling down the foea of righteousness. And it is but the carrying .out the figure when the chapter speak& of the blood coming up to the bridles of the honie11. "As far as sixteen hundr'ld furlongs." Hengstenbcrg understands this as equivalent to "a judgment encircling the. whole earth." l What can we learn in so obscure a vision?. We reply-The visioa is not an obscure one, if we let Scripture be its own interpreter. There.are at least six lines of high and holy thought, which, on the. basis of it, may be profitably followed up. L LoNG, LONG BEJ'OBE TJ{B END COMETH, THE SPmIT OP GOD HAS TOLD US WHAT IT WlLL BB, We gather nut only from other Scripturea, but from the fnct that our Lord spoke in parablea when on earth, and thus set forth truth in parable when he spake from heaven, that there is an analogue between the earthly and the spiritbsl kingdoms. As in the natural world there are tendenciea ever at work which move forwards towards development and completion, so ia it in the spiritual. "First the blade, then the ea!', after that the full corn in the ear." Bo is the kingdom of God. And because the great Creator perfectly understands the tendencies of to-day, he can with entire certainty forecast the issues of the last day. .In fact, the /oreknowWJ,ge qf God is an infinit~ power of the calculation qf c/i.ances. As he knows perfectly the meaning of what i1 to-day, he clearly sees what will be on any given day. And in his fellowship with men, he has taught them to write the main feature of the end, viz. the harvest-:-time of seed already in the ground, whether good or bad. ll IT 18 A MAN111'E8T FAOT THAT THERE ABB Oli BARTH A'r TBI8 Jrol!D111T J:tEN QJ TBB TWO WIDELY DIFJ'EBBNT CLAB!IEB OJ' GOOD AND EVIL. No one can deny this unless he ignores plain facts before every one's eyes. '!'here are men who are stainless in their sanctity, '!'here are others who are fiendish in their vileness. And it is not in refer- ence to such widely contrasted lives th&t men find so much difficulty. Many years ago, an Oxford professor remarked that there were some who had never known anything about repentance towards God or faith towards our Lord J88UII Christ, and who yet therefore could not be classed among the wheat, yet they were externally BO moral s nd irreproachable they could not be classed among the tares I What was hie conclusion? Thm there must be an intermediate class I There is another and a sounder conclusion Our Lord declares there are two, and but two. But even if there are some that aee,n k "" to come betwetm, we dare not impeach the verdict of him who searcheth the hearts. 'l'he fact is, we csn understand only issues. Christ tan discern tendencies. He knows them now, and by their fruits ~ shall know them, Germs. Growth. · Develcp- ment. Manifestation, IIL FOR WIBB REASONS, NOT ALL OP WBIOH ARB KNOWN TO US, BOTH GOOD .ilrD BVIJ, 1 Bo alsc Bishop Boyd Corpenter, Dr. Currey (quoted by him), Professor Milligan, Dr Warren, Dr. Craven, Rev. W. Robinson, Uev. P. W. Grant, and the' Speaker's Cowmen tar1' (in loo.) for different interpretations of the ~ixteen hundr€d furlouii~-  cm. uv. 1-20.] TUE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 859