Divine truth which always coal&1ce-hurnan effort and the grace of God. 6; ne LmJ, fJIIIMth w daim Ms Church. "'l'he marriage of the Lamb is come." These words, like many others with wb.ich we have met in the course of our expositions, overleap the intervening distance and events, and glance onwards to the outcome. The fall of Babylon will be one of the preliminaries to heaven's great bridal-day I And then, theu the mutual rejoicing I "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." This is the festive scene which -is descried in the dilltance, as that to which the evolution of things is pointing. It is 11ketched in eh. xxii. Between now and then are the binding and loosing of Satan, the victory over Gog and Magog-and after these things the New Jerusalem appeart1. .And each incident as it occurs is a new pledge of the nearing of heaven's great triumphal feast. But we have not gone far enough yet in interpreting the spirit of this chapter. We have seen what we may call the momenta of the joy-the items which furnish the mat.erial of it. We have yet to ai;k- III. 01.i Wll.AT GROUNDS DOES THAT JOY REST WHICH THUS EXPRESSJ:B ITl!l:LI!' 1'N BONG? All these events which prompt the joy do so because they are, to the eye of renewed creatures, the expression and development of the infinite perfections of God. Here they see our God unveiling his purposes of grace. It is in him and in his holy will that all these e.venta have their unity and their continuity. "'l'he salvation, and the glory, and the honour •• , unto the Lord our God." Glancing over the paragraph, we find that there are no fewer the.n five different manifestations of the Divine perfec- tions. 1. There is a manifeatation of power. (Ver. 1.) The power belongs to God. In him is the origin of force; its eternal and exhaust less fount. Even when Babylon is at the height of its pride, he can hurl it down and cast it for ever away. Is it not matter for infinite joy to know that evil is not strong enough to perpetuate itself? "Though thou make thy nest among the stars, from thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." 2. There i8 a manifestation of equity. " He bath jtfflged ••• lie bath avenged" (ver. 2). "He will render to every man according to his deeds." 8. There is a manifestation of grace. (Ver. 8.) "To her was granted "-as a free gift. It is the glory of the Divine sovereignty to enrich out of the aboundings of grace, and thus to do exceeding abundantly for us above all that we ask or think. 4. TMre is a manifes- tation of the Divine mercy. For he hath conferred salvation on those who were ready to perish; and hath, of his own pity to the unworthy, made them fair, though he found them foul. 6, There is a manifestat_icm. of faithful,-. Of faithful adhesion to all the promises; of perpetual continuation in faithful love to the bride whom he will wme to claim as his own. This union is for ever I The tie between the Redeemer and his redeemed shall never be diBSOlved. but shall outlive the "wr~ck of matter, and ·the crash of world,1," Note: The one l88110n which the unrolling ages teach tlB is-God. There is a pro- found truth hidden in pantheism, albeit it perverts the truth which alone gives it its plausibility. All events-in the town, the city, the empire, the world-are hastening on the unfolding of God, and writing new pages of that unfinished and unfinishable Name! Hence the deep meaning in the prophecy so oft repeated, "'l'he glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." It is not in heaven that we shall find God ; it is in the eternally unfolding manifestation of God that the righteous will find their heaven, and the theme for a song that will be ever new.
Vere. 11-21.-" King of kings, and Lard of lords." In this paragraph we have a marvellously vivid sketch of a mighty conflict, in which the most high God. in the Person of his Son, goes forth to war and victory. Strange as it m11y seem to speak or God being engaged in a struggle, it is c1e1u that what we call " good" is in the world with its legion forces, and that what is evil is also here. Both are at work, 'l'bey are necessarily opposed, God mud be on the side of good. Hence the wa.r. Probably we have reason to believe that God could, if he pleased, terminate in a moment all that is opposed to his infinitely holy nature. But ho does not see fit to do this. We do not know why, except as he tells us. It may be that in and by the conflict lessons al'!' t.. be taught which otherwise could not be learnt. Any way, while this strife lasts, it ii ihe Lort.l's co11troversy, which will be brought to ao iMua i11 .. &he battle of the great '54 THE REVELATION 011' ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [en. xrx.1-21.