The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 464

paasage to their oppo~it.es." The seven angels with the seven last plague11 ha'fhg aet before the vision of the apostle scenes of awe and terror, l:e la now carried forward to ~ vision that lies beyond them all-even to the glory that is yet to be revealed. When the warrior hath done with fighting, it must be pleasant for him to lay aside his armour; when the mariner has been often tempeet-tossed, he must be glad to rearh the desired haven. So it is here. In going through the homiletic exposition of the plan of this book, we have fouud ourselves, as it were, in inC81!113nt conflict; and if one 'Btruggle passed, it was but followed by another and another etill Bui now " the war is over." The harlot is judgtd. 'l'he dragon is defeated. The first and eeoond beasts are cast into the lake of fire. Ha<les and death are no more. The resurrection is past. The jud,,<>nient is enaed. The award is made. And now a voice is heard from the ·throne, "BeholcJ, I make all things new." In the twenty-first chapter, and in the first five verses of the twenty-second, we l1ave a glowing picture of the new state of purity and bli,is which awaits the redeemed from among men, We will try and indicate in outline-for this is all W!) can do-the features of the new state and the new placl'. Let WI "look" in by faith _now, and, by-and-by, the Lord grant that we may go in! We have set before Us-ll. new sphere of life. a new abode of life, and new conditions of life. Undoubtedly there is a very large amount of symbolism in the three sketches; -but the symbolism is such as to Indicate an unspeakable measure of glory. J. 'l'HERE WILL BE FOR THE GLORIFIED CHURCH A NEW SPHERE OF LD'E. 11 A 'new ·heaven and a new earth" is a phrase which certainly conveys the idea of locality; of a place for the righteous, in which and on which their inheritance finds its ground. To the meaning of the phrase, "a new heaven," we have scarcely any clue. Often heaven_ means the surrounding atmosphere. The rabbis taught that there were three )leavens-the first, where the birds fly; the second, where the stars are; the third, where God is. Here it signifies apparently the surrounding atmOl!phere of the· new earth o» which the rig;hteous dwell ; or, it may mean, tbat there shall be new spiritual environments to correspond with changed physical cowlitions. 'l'hi8' latter phrase, "the new earth," seews to mean this earth renovated and purified by the fires of the l&11t day; retouched and beautified by the band that built it :first. It ill not unr88>!0nable to suppose that the same earth, which was the theatre on which the '&viour. suffered, should be also the scene of bis final triumph. How far the expression, ... the sea iball no longer be," is to be taken literally, we cannot tell, As the definite • article is used, the phrase may be equivalent to "that sea," i.& the tossing, ffltl88$ - of fonner days. Even thep it may also. be SYJ!lbolical, and may thus mean that the restless tossing to and fro of this world's surging strife ·shall be no more. Cer- •tainly the more we let. the literal and material sink into the background, and the more that which is spiritual comes into fuller prominence, the more power and glory '-Will this vision have for us, For whatever interest-and it is not slight-the· 9ues.;. <tion of place has for us in reference to the nex.t life, the question of date IS. so 1min8811urably greater, tha,, compared with it, the other is of no consequence at all. ;Jf men are but free from sin, and for ever with the Lord, what mattem it 'IDMn God -appoints their abode? All space is his; and in any section of it he can prepare a 'heaven for the glorified. . ll~ IN ·THESE REALMS Tm:B'I JS A NEW ABODE Ol" J,IJl'B, Within the new heaven an/! on the new earth there is " the holy city." Let us gather up one by one .the ·teatures which mark it. 1. I'8 name. · It is called ·u New Jerusalem." Before the ·apostle, was prisoner under Domitian, the Jerusalem of olden time had fallen, And !llll,lly a devout Jew would be almost heart-broken to think that the sacred walls, aqd ·the still holier fane enclosed therein, for him.existed no more. And, with a wondrous :touch.of tenderne1.<S, the apostle points them far ahead to a new Jerusalem, in which all that was precious in the past ~hall be. r.eproduced and exceeded-a JerusalP-m which should indeed be "holy," which should be free from an alien's tread, and which should endure for ever, For whatever the olden city might have of the glory of the Lord, the 11.ew Jerusalem shall have the lf)rd in his glory. 2. Its wall. (Ver. 12, "great and = high;" ver. 17, "a hundred and forty-four cubits" 240 feet, indicating stupendous '.height and comple'te security; cf. 1 Sam. x:n. 16; Zech, ii. 5; Isa. xxvi. 1.) The city of the saints is safe against all assault. 3, Its entranoe gate,, Here there IU1t two :mnarkable features. Where the protection of the walls ceasos-at the ptea--there c!'R'. UL 1-27.J THE REVELATION 01!' ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 615