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- Jamieson, Fausset, Brown -
Revelation
11:1-19.
MEASUREMENT OF THE TEMPLE.
THE TWO WITNESSES' TESTIMONY:
THEIR DEATH,
RESURRECTION, AND
ASCENSION:
THE EARTHQUAKE:
THE THIRD WOE:
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET USHERS IN CHRIST'S KINGDOM.
THANKSGIVING OF THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS.
This eleventh chapter is a compendious
summary of, and introduction to, the more detailed prophecies
of the same events to come in the twelfth through twentieth
chapters. Hence we find anticipatory allusions to the
subsequent prophecies; compare Re
11:7, "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit"
(not mentioned before), with the detailed accounts, Re
13:1, 11; 17:8; also Re
11:8, "the great city," with Re
14:8; 17:1, 5; 18:10.
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Verse 1. and the angel stood--omitted
in A, Vulgate, and Coptic. Supported by B and
Syriac. If it be omitted, the "reed" will, in
construction, agree with "saying." So WORDSWORTH takes it. The reed, the canon
of Scripture, the measuring reed of the Church, our rule of
faith, speaks. So in Re
16:7 the altar is personified as speaking
(compare Note, see on Re
16:7). The Spirit speaks in the canon of Scripture (the
word canon is derived from Hebrew,
"kaneh," "a reed," the word here used; and John it was
who completed the canon). So VICTORINUS,
AQUINAS, and VITRINGA. "Like a rod," namely, straight: like a
rod of iron (Re
2:27), unbending, destroying all error, and that "cannot
be broken." Re
2:27; Heb 1:8, Greek, "a rod of straightness,"
English Version, "a scepter of righteousness"; this is
added to guard against it being thought that the reed
was one "shaken by the wind" In the abrupt style of the
Apocalypse, "saying" is possibly indefinite, put for "one
said." Still WORDSWORTH'S view agrees
best with Greek. So the ancient commentator, ANDREAS OF CÆSAREA, in the
end of the fifth century (compare Notes, see on Re
11:3, 4).
the
temple--Greek, "naon" (as distinguished from
the Greek, "hieron," or temple in general), the
Holy Place, "the sanctuary."
the altar--of incense; for it alone was in "the
sanctuary." (Greek, "naos"). The measurement of
the Holy place seems to me to stand parallel to the sealing of
the elect of Israel under the sixth seal. God's elect are
symbolized by the sanctuary at Jerusalem (1Co
3:16, 17, where the same Greek word, "naos,"
occurs for "temple," as here). Literal Israel in Jerusalem,
and with the temple restored (Eze
40:3, 5, where also the temple is measured with the
measuring reed, the forty-first, forty-second, forty-third,
and forty-fourth chapters), shall stand at the head of the
elect Church. The measuring implies at once the exactness of
the proportions of the temple to be restored, and the definite
completeness (not one being wanting) of the numbers of the
Israelite and of the Gentile elections. The literal temple at
Jerusalem shall be the typical forerunner of the heavenly
Jerusalem, in which there shall be all temple, and no
portion exclusively set apart as temple. John's
accurately drawing the distinction in subsequent chapters
between God's servants and those who bear the mark of the
beast, is the way whereby he fulfils the direction here given
him to measure the temple. The fact that the
temple is distinguished from them that worship
therein, favors the view that the spiritual temple, the
Jewish and Christian Church, is not exclusively meant, but
that the literal temple must also be meant. It shall be
rebuilt on the return of the Jews to their land. Antichrist
shall there put forward his blasphemous claims. The sealed
elect of Israel, the head of the elect Church, alone shall
refuse his claims. These shall constitute the true sanctuary
which is here measured, that is, accurately marked and kept by
God, whereas the rest shall yield to his pretensions. WORDSWORTH objects that, in the twenty-five
passages of the Acts, wherein the Jewish temple is mentioned,
it is called hieron, not naos, and so in the
apostolic Epistles; but this is simply because no occasion for
mentioning the literal Holy Place (Greek,
"naos") occurs in Acts and the Epistles; indeed, in Ac
7:48, though not directly, there does occur the term,
naos, indirectly referring to the Jerusalem temple
Holy Place. In addressing Gentile Christians, to whom
the literal Jerusalem temple was not familiar, it was
to be expected the term, naos, should not be found in
the literal, but in the spiritual sense. In Re
11:19 naos is used in a local sense; compare
also Re
14:15, 17; 15:5, 8.
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Verse 2. But--Greek, "And."
the court . . .
without--all outside the Holy Place (Re
11:1).
leave out--of thy
measurement, literally, "cast out"; reckon as unhallowed.
it--emphatic. It is not
to be measured; whereas the Holy Place is.
given--by God's appointment.
unto the Gentiles--In the wider sense, there are
meant here "the times of the Gentiles," wherein Jerusalem is
"trodden down of the Gentiles," as the parallel, Lu
21:24, proves; for the same word is used here
[Greek, "patein"], "tread under foot." Compare
also Ps
79:1; Isa 63:18.
forty
. . . two months-- (Re
13:5). The same period as Daniel's "time, times, and half"
(Re
12:14); and Re
11:3, and Re 12:6, the woman a fugitive in the wilderness
"a thousand two hundred and threescore days." In the wider
sense, we may either adopt the year-day theory of 1260 years
(on which, and the papal rule of 1260 years, see on Da
7:25; Da
8:14; Da
12:11), or rather, regard the 2300 days (Da
8:14), 1335 days (Da
12:11, 12). 1290 days, and 1260 days, as symbolical of the
long period of the Gentile times, whether dating from the
subversion of the Jewish theocracy at the Babylonian captivity
(the kingdom having been never since restored to
Israel), or from the last destruction of Jerusalem under
Titus, and extending to the restoration of the theocracy at
the coming of Him "whose right it is"; the different epochs
marked by the 2300, 1335, 1290, and 1260 days, will not be
fully cleared up till the grand consummation; but, meanwhile,
our duty and privilege urge us to investigate them. Some one
of the epochs assigned by many may be right but as yet it is
uncertain. The times of the Gentile monarchies during Israel's
seven times punishment, will probably, in the narrower
sense (Re
11:2), be succeeded by the much more restricted times of
the personal Antichrist's tyranny in the Holy Land. The long
years of papal misrule may be followed by the short time of
the man of sin who shall concentrate in himself all the
apostasy, persecution, and evil of the various forerunning
Antichrists, Antiochus, Mohammed, Popery, just before Christ's
advent. His time shall be THE
RECAPITULATION and open consummation of the "mystery of
iniquity" so long leavening the world. Witnessing churches may
be followed by witnessing individuals, the former occupying
the longer, the latter, the shorter period. The three and a
half (1260 days being three and a half years of three
hundred sixty days each, during which the two witnesses
prophesy in sackcloth) is the sacred number seven
halved, implying the Antichristian world-power's time is
broken at best; it answers to the three and a half
years' period in which Christ witnessed for the truth, and the
Jews, His own people, disowned Him, and the God-opposed world
power crucified Him (compare Note, see on Da
9:27). The three and a half, in a word, marks the time in
which the earthly rules over the heavenly kingdom. It was the
duration of Antiochus' treading down of the temple and
persecution of faithful Israelites. The resurrection of the
witnesses after three and a half days, answers to Christ's
resurrection after three days. The world power's times never
reach the sacred fulness of seven times three hundred sixty,
that is, 2520, though they approach to it in 2300 (Da
8:14). The forty-two months answer to Israel's forty-two
sojournings (Nu
33:1-50) in the wilderness, as contrasted with the
sabbatic rest in Canaan: reminding the Church that here, in
the world wilderness, she cannot look for her sabbatic rest.
Also, three and a half years was the period of the heaven
being shut up, and of consequent famine, in Elias' time. Thus,
three and a half represented to the Church the idea of toil,
pilgrimage, and persecution.
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Verse 3. I will give
power--There is no "power" in the Greek, so
that "give" must mean "give commission," or some such
word.
my two
witnesses--Greek, "the two witnesses of me."
The article implies that the two were well known at least to
John.
prophesy--preach under
the inspiration of the Spirit, denouncing judgments against
the apostate. They are described by symbol as "the two olive
trees" and "the two candlesticks," or lamp-stands,
"standing before the God of the earth." The reference is to Zec
4:3, 12, where two individuals are meant, Joshua
and Zerubbabel, who ministered to the Jewish Church, just as
the two olive trees emptied the oil out of themselves into the
bowl of the candlestick. So in the final apostasy God will
raise up two inspired witnesses to minister encouragement to
the afflicted, though sealed, remnant. As two
candlesticks are mentioned in Re
11:4, but only one in Zec
4:2, I think the twofold Church, Jewish and Gentile, may
be meant by the two candlesticks represented by the two
witnesses: just as in Re
7:1-8 there are described first the sealed of Israel, then
those of all nations. But see on Re
11:4. The actions of the two witnesses are just those of
Moses when witnessing for God against Pharaoh (the type of
Antichrist, the last and greatest foe of Israel), turning
the waters into blood, and smiting with
plagues; and of Elijah (the witness for God in an
almost universal apostasy of Israel, a remnant of seven
thousand, however, being left, as the 144,000 sealed, Re
7:1-8) causing fire by his word to devour the
enemy, and shutting heaven, so that it rained not for
three years and six months, the very time (1260 days)
during which the two witnesses prophesy. Moreover, the words
"witness" and "prophesy" are usually applied to
individuals, not to abstractions (compare Ps
52:8). DE BURGH
thinks Elijah and Moses will again appear, as Mal
4:5, 6 seems to imply (compare Mt
17:11; Ac 3:21). Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ at
the Transfiguration, which foreshadowed His coming millennial
kingdom. As to Moses, compare De
34:5, 6; Jude 9. Elias' genius and mode of procedure bears
the same relation to the "second" coming of Christ, that John
the Baptist's did to the first coming [BENGEL]. Many of the early Church thought the two
witnesses to be Enoch and Elijah. This would avoid the
difficulty of the dying a second time, for these have
never yet died; but, perhaps, shall be the witnesses slain.
Still, the turning the water to blood, and the plagues
(Re
11:6), apply best to "Moses (compare Re
15:3, the song of Moses"). The transfiguration
glory of Moses and Elias was not their permanent
resurrection-state, which shall not be till Christ shall come
to glorify His saints, for He has precedence before all in
rising. An objection to this interpretation is that those
blessed departed servants of God would have to submit to death
(Re
11:7, 8), and this in Moses' case a second time,
which Heb
9:27 denies. See on Zec
4:11, 12, on the two witnesses as answering to "the two
olive trees." The two olive trees are channels of the oil
feeding the Church, and symbols of peace. The Holy Spirit is
the oil in them. Christ's witnesses, in remarkable times of
the Church's history, have generally appeared in pairs: as
Moses and Aaron, the inspired civil and religious authorities;
Caleb and Joshua; Ezekiel the priest and Daniel the prophet;
Zerubbabel and Joshua.
in
sackcloth--the garment of prophets, especially when
calling people to mortification of their sins, and to
repentance. Their very exterior aspect accorded with their
teachings: so Elijah, and John who came in His spirit and
power. The sackcloth of the witnesses is a catch word
linking this episode under the sixth trumpet, with the sun
black as sackcloth (in righteous retribution on the
apostates who rejected God's witnesses) under the sixth seal
(Re
6:12).
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Verse 4. standing before the God of the
earth--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read "Lord" for "God": so Zec
4:14. Ministering to (Lu
1:19), and as in the sight of Him, who, though now so
widely disowned on "earth," is its rightful King, and shall at
last be openly recognized as such (Re
11:15). The phrase alludes to Zec
4:10, 14, "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of
the whole earth." The article "the" marks this allusion. They
are "the two candlesticks," not that they are the Church, the
one candlestick, but as its representative
light-bearers (Greek, "phosteres," Php
2:15), and ministering for its encouragement in a time of
apostasy. WORDSWORTH'S view is worth
consideration, whether it may not constitute a secondary
sense: the two witnesses, the olive trees, are THE TWO TESTAMENTS
ministering their testimony to the Church of the old
dispensation, as well as to that of the new, which explains
the two witnesses being called also the two
candlesticks (the Old and New Testament churches; the
candlestick in Zec
4:2 is but one as there was then but one Testament,
and one Church, the Jewish). The Church in both dispensations
has no light in herself, but derives it from the Spirit
through the witness of the twofold word, the two olive trees:
compare Note, see on Re
11:1, which is connected with this, the reed, the
Scripture canon, being the measure of the Church: so
PRIMASIUS [X, p. 314]: the two witnesses
preach in sackcloth, marking the ignominious treatment which
the word, like Christ Himself, receives from the world. So the
twenty-four elders represent the ministers of the two
dispensations by the double twelve. But Re
11:7 proves that primarily the two Testaments cannot be
meant; for these shall never be "killed," and never "shall
have finished their testimony" till the world is
finished.
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Verse 5. will hurt--Greek,
"wishes," or "desires to hurt them."
fire . . . devoureth--(Compare Jer
5:14; 23:29).
out of their
mouth--not literally, but God makes their inspired
denunciations of judgment to come to pass and devour
their enemies.
if any man will
hurt them--twice repeated, to mark the immediate
certainty of the accomplishment.
in this manner--so in like manner as he tries to hurt
them (compare Re
13:10). Retribution in kind.
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Verse 6. These . . .
power--Greek, "authorized power."
it rain not--Greek, "huetos
brechee," "rain shower not," literally, "moisten"
not (the earth).
smite
. . . with all plagues--Greek, "with
(literally, 'in') every plague."
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Verse 7. finished their
testimony--The same verb is used of Paul's ending his
ministry by a violent death.
the
beast that ascended out of the bottomless
pit--Greek, "the wild beast . . . the
abyss." This beast was not mentioned before, yet he is
introduced as "the beast," because he had already been
described by Daniel (Da 7:3,
11), and he is fully so in the subsequent part of the
Apocalypse, namely, Re
13:1; 17:8. Thus, John at once appropriates the Old
Testament prophecies; and also, viewing his whole subject at a
glance, mentions as familiar things (though not yet so to the
reader) objects to be described hereafter by himself. It is a
proof of the unity that pervades all Scripture.
make war against them--alluding to Da
7:21, where the same is said of the little horn
that sprang up among the ten horns on the fourth beast.
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Verse 8. dead bodies--So Vulgate,
Syriac, and ANDREAS. But A, B, C, the
oldest manuscripts, and Coptic read the singular, "dead
body." The two fallen in one cause are considered as
one.
the great
city--eight times in the Revelation elsewhere used
of BABYLON (Re
14:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21). In Re
21:10 (English Version as to the new
Jerusalem), the oldest manuscripts omit "the great" before
city, so that it forms no exception. It must,
therefore, have an anticipatory reference to the mystical
Babylon.
which--Greek,
"the which," namely, "the city which."
spiritually--in a spiritual
sense.
Sodom--The very term
applied by Isa
1:10 to apostate Jerusalem (compare Eze
16:48).
Egypt--the nation
which the Jews' besetting sin was to lean upon.
where . . . Lord was
crucified--This identifies the city as Jerusalem, though
the Lord was crucified outside of the city. EUSEBIUS mentions that the scene of Christ's
crucifixion was enclosed within the city by Constantine; so it
will be probably at the time of the slaying of the witnesses.
"The beast [for example, Napoleon and France's efforts] has
been long struggling for a footing in Palestine; after his
ascent from the bottomless pit he struggles much more" [BENGEL]. Some one of the Napoleonic dynasty may
obtain that footing, and even be regarded as Messiah by the
Jews, in virtue of his restoring them to their own land; and
so may prove to be the last Antichrist. The difficulty is, how
can Jerusalem be called "the great city," that is, Babylon? By
her becoming the world's capital of idolatrous apostasy, such
as Babylon originally was, and then Rome has been; just as she
is here called also "Sodom and Egypt."
also our--A, B, C, ORIGEN,
ANDREAS, and others read, "also
their." Where their Lord, also, as well as they,
was slain. Compare Re
18:24, where the blood of ALL
slain on earth is said to be found IN BABYLON, just as in Mt
23:35, Jesus saith that, "upon the Jews and JERUSALEM" (Compare Mt
23:37, 38) shall "come ALL the
righteous blood shed upon earth"; whence it follows Jerusalem
shall be the last capital of the world apostasy, and so
receive the last and worst visitation of all the judgments
ever inflicted on the apostate world, the earnest of which was
given in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. In the wider
sense, in the Church-historical period, the Church being the
sanctuary, all outside of it is the world, the great city,
wherein all the martyrdoms of saints have taken place.
Babylon marks its idolatry, Egypt its tyranny,
Sodom its desperate corruption, Jerusalem its
pretensions to sanctity on the ground of spiritual privileges,
while all the while it is the murderer of Christ in the person
of His members. All which is true of Rome. So VITRINGA. But in the more definite sense,
Jerusalem is regarded, even in Hebrews (Heb
13:12-14), as the world city which believers were then to
go forth from, in order to "seek one to come."
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Verse 9. they--rather, "(some)
of the peoples."
people--Greek, "peoples."
kindreds--Greek, "tribes"; all save the
elect (whence it is not said, The peoples
. . . but [some] of the peoples
. . . , or, some of the peoples
. . . may refer to those of the nations
. . ., who at the time shall hold possession of
Palestine and Jerusalem).
shall see--So Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic. But A, B, C, and ANDREAS,
the present, "see," or rather (Greek,
"blepousin"), "look upon." The prophetic present.
dead bodies--So Vulgate,
Syriac, and ANDREAS. But A, B, C, and
Coptic, singular, as in Re
11:8, "dead body." Three and a half days answer to the
three and a half years (see on Re
11:2, 3), the half of seven, the full and perfect number.
shall not suffer--so B,
Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A,
C, and Vulgate read, "do not suffer."
in graves--so Vulgate and PRIMASIUS. But B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and
ANDREAS, singular; translate, "into
a sepulchre," literally, "a monument." Accordingly, in
righteous retribution in kind, the flesh of the
Antichristian hosts is not buried, but given to all the
fowls in mid-heaven to eat (Re
19:17, 18, 21).
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Verse 10. they that dwell upon
. . . earth--those who belong to the earth, as
its citizens, not to heaven (Re
3:10; 8:13; 12:12; 13:8).
shall--so Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic.
But A, B, and C read the present tense; compare
Note, see on Re
11:9, on "shall not suffer."
rejoice over them--The Antichristianity of the last
days shall probably be under the name of philosophical
enlightenment and civilization, but really man's deification
of himself. Fanaticism shall lead Antichrist's followers to
exult in having at last seemingly silenced in death their
Christian rebukers. Like her Lord, the Church will have her
dark passion week followed by the bright resurrection morn. It
is a curious historical coincidence that, at the fifth Lateran
Council, May 5, 1514, no witness (not even the Moravians who
were summoned) testified for the truth, as HUSS and JEROME did at
Constance; an orator ascended the tribunal before the
representatives of papal Christendom, and said, "There is no
reclaimant, no opponent." LUTHER, on
October 31, 1517, exactly three and a half years afterwards,
posted up his famous theses on the church at Wittenberg. The
objection is, the years are years of three hundred sixty-five,
not three hundred sixty, days, and so two and a half days are
deficient; but still the coincidence is curious; and if this
prophecy be allowed other fulfilments, besides the final and
literal one under the last Antichrist, this may reasonably be
regarded as one.
send gifts one to
another--as was usual at a joyous festival.
tormented them--namely, with the plagues
which they had power to inflict (Re
11:5, 6); also, by their testimony against the
earthly.
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Verse 11. Translate as Greek,
"After the three days and an half."
the Spirit of life--the same which breathed
life into Israel's dry bones, Eze
37:10, 11 (see on Eze
37:10, 11), "Breath came into them." The passage
here, as there, is closely connected with Israel's
restoration as a nation to political and religious life.
Compare also concerning the same, Ho
6:2, where Ephraim says, "After two days will He revive
us; in the third day He will raise us up,
and we shall live in His sight."
into--so B and Vulgate. But A reads
(Greek, "en autois"), "(so as to be) IN them."
stood upon
their feet--the very words in Eze
37:10, which proves the allusion to be to Israel's
resurrection, in contrast to "the times of the Gentiles"
wherein these "tread under foot the holy city."
great fear--such as fell on the soldiers
guarding Christ's tomb at His resurrection (Mt
28:4), when also there was a great earthquake (Re
11:2).
saw--Greek,
"beheld."
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Verse 12. they--so A, C, and
Vulgate. But B, Coptic, Syriac, and ANDREAS read, "I heard."
a cloud--Greek, "the cloud"; which may be merely
the generic expression for what we are familiar with, as we
say "the clouds." But I prefer taking the article as
definitely alluding to THE cloud which
received Jesus at His ascension, Ac 1:9
(where there is no article, as there is no allusion to a
previous cloud, such as there is here). As they resembled Him
in their three and a half years' witnessing, their three and a
half days lying in death (though not for exactly the same
time, nor put in a tomb as He was), so also in their ascension
is the translation and transfiguration of the sealed of Israel
(Re
7:1-8), and the elect of all nations, caught up out of the
reach of the Antichristian foe. In Re
14:14-16, He is represented as sitting on a white
cloud.
their enemies beheld
them--and were thus openly convicted by God for their
unbelief and persecution of His servants; unlike Elijah's
ascension formerly, in the sight of friends only. The Church
caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and transfigured in
body, is justified by her Lord before the world, even as the
man-child (Jesus) was "caught up unto God and His throne" from
before the dragon standing ready to devour the woman's
child as soon as born.
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Verse 13. "In that same hour";
literally, "the hour."
great
earthquake--answering to the "great earthquake" under the
sixth seal, just at the approach of the Lord (Re
6:12). Christ was delivered unto His enemies on the fifth
day of the week, and on the sixth was crucified, and on
the sabbath rested; so it is under the sixth seal and sixth
trumpet that the last suffering of the Church, begun under the
fifth seal and trumpet, is to be consummated, before she
enters on her seventh day of eternal sabbath. Six is
the number of the world power's greatest triumph, but at the
same time verges on seven, the divine number, when its
utter destruction takes place. Compare "666" in Re
13:18, "the number of the beast."
tenth part of the city fell--that is, of "the great
city" (Re
16:19; Zec 14:2). Ten is the number of the world
kingdoms (Re
17:10-12), and the beast's horns (Re
13:1), and the dragon's (Re
12:3). Thus, in the Church-historical view, it is hereby
implied that one of the ten apostate world kingdoms fall. But
in the narrower view a tenth of Jerusalem under Antichrist
falls. The nine-tenths remain and become when purified the
center of Christ's earthly kingdom.
of men--Greek, "names of men." The men are as
accurately enumerated as if their names were given.
seven thousand--ELLIOTT interprets seven chiliads or
provinces, that is, the seven Dutch United Provinces lost to
the papacy; and "names of men," titles of dignity, duchies,
lordships, &c. Rather, seven thousand combine the
two mystical perfect and comprehensive numbers seven
and thousand, implying the full and complete
destruction of the impenitent.
the
remnant--consisting of the Israelite inhabitants not
slain. Their conversion forms a blessed contrast to Re
16:9; and above, Re
9:20, 21. These repenting (Zec
12:10-14; 13:1), become in the flesh the loyal
subjects of Christ reigning over the earth with His
transfigured saints.
gave glory to
the God of heaven--which while apostates, and worshipping
the beast's image, they had not done.
God of heaven--The apostates of the last days, in
pretended scientific enlightenment, recognize no
heavenly power, but only the natural forces in the
earth which come under their observation. His receiving up
into heaven the two witnesses who had power
during their time on earth to shut heaven from raining
(Re
11:6), constrained His and their enemies who witnessed it,
to acknowledge the God of heaven, to be God of the
earth (Re
11:4). As in Re
11:4 He declared Himself to be God of the earth by
His two witnesses, so now He proves Himself to be God of
heaven also.
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Verse 14. The second woe--that under
the sixth trumpet (Re
9:12-21), including also the prophecy, Re
11:1-13: Woe to the world, joy to the faithful, as
their redemption draweth nigh.
the third woe cometh quickly--It is not mentioned in
detail for the present, until first there is given a sketch of
the history of the origination, suffering, and faithfulness of
the Church in a time of apostasy and persecution. Instead of
the third woe being detailed, the grand consummation is
summarily noticed, the thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders
in heaven for the establishment of Christ's kingdom on
earth, attended with the destruction of the destroyers
of the earth.
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Verse 15. sounded--with his trumpet.
Evidently "the LAST trumpet." Six
is close to seven, but does not reach it. The world
judgments are complete in six, but by the fulfilment of
seven the world kingdoms become Christ's. Six is the
number of the world given over to judgment. It is half of
twelve, the Church's number, as three and a half is
half of seven, the divine number for completeness. BENGEL thinks the angel here to have been
Gabriel, which name is compounded of El, GOD, and Geber, MIGHTY
MAN (Re
10:1). Gabriel therefore appropriately announced to Mary
the advent of the mighty God-man: compare the account
of the man-child's birth which follows (Re
12:1-6), to which this forms the transition though the
seventh trumpet in time is subsequent, being the consummation
of the historical episode, the twelfth and thirteen chapters.
The seventh trumpet, like the seventh seal and seventh vial,
being the consummation, is accompanied differently from the
preceding six: not the consequences which follow on earth, but
those IN HEAVEN, are set before us, the
great voices and thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders in
heaven, as the half-hour's silence in heaven at the
seventh seal, and the voice out of the temple in
heaven, "It is done," at the seventh vial. This is
parallel to Da
2:44, "The God of heaven shall set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the
kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break
to pieces all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for
ever." It is the setting up of Heaven's sovereignty
over the earth visibly, which, when invisibly exercised, was
rejected by the earthly rulers heretofore. The distinction of
worldly and spiritual shall then cease. There will be no beast
in opposition to the woman. Poetry, art, science, and social
life will be at once worldly and Christian.
kingdoms--A, B, C, and Vulgate read the
singular, "The kingdom (sovereignty) of (over)
the world is our Lord's and His Christ's." There is no good
authority for English Version reading. The
kingdoms of the world give way to the kingdom of
(over) the world exercised by Christ. The
earth-kingdoms are many: His shall be one. The
appellation "Christ," the Anointed, is here, where His
kingdom is mentioned appropriately for the first time
used in Revelation. For it is equivalent to KING. Though priests and prophets also were
anointed, yet this term is peculiarly applied to Him as
King, insomuch that "the Lord's anointed" is His title as
KING, in places where He is distinguished
from the priests. The glorified Son of man shall rule mankind
by His transfigured Church in heaven, and by His people Israel
on earth: Israel shall be the priestly mediator of blessings
to the whole world, realizing them first.
he--not emphatic in the Greek.
shall reign for ever and
ever--Greek, "unto the ages of the ages." Here
begins the millennial reign, the consummation of "the mystery
of God" (Re
10:7).
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Verse 16. before God--B and
Syriac read, "before the throne of God." But A,
C, Vulgate, and Coptic read as English
Version.
seats--Greek, "thrones."
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Verse 17. thanks--for the answer to
our prayers (Re
6:10, 11) in destroying them which destroy the
earth (Re
11:18), thereby preparing the way for setting up the
kingdom of Thyself and Thy saints.
and art to come--omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate,
Syriac, CYPRIAN, and ANDREAS. The consummation having actually come,
they do not address Him as they did when it was still future,
"Thou that art to come." Compare Re
11:18, "is come." From the sounding of the seventh trumpet
He is to His people JAH, the ever present
Lord, WHO IS, more peculiarly than JEHOVAH "who is, was, and is to come."
taken to thee thy great
power--"to Thee" is not in the Greek. Christ
takes to Him the kingdom as His own of
right.
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Verse 18. the nations were
angry--alluding to Ps
99:1, Septuagint, "The Lord is become King: let the
peoples become angry." Their anger is combined with
alarm (Ex
15:14; 2Ki 19:28, "thy rage against Me is come up
into Mine ears, I will put My hook in thy nose," &c.).
Translate, as the Greek is the same. "The nations were
angered, and Thy anger is come." How petty man's
impotent anger, standing here side by side with that of
the omnipotent God!
dead
. . . be judged--proving that this seventh
trumpet is at the end of all things, when the judgment on
Christ's foes and the reward of His saints, long prayed for by
His saints, shall take place.
the
prophets--as, for instance, the two prophesying
witnesses (Re
11:3), and those who have showed them kindness for
Christ's sake. Jesus shall come to effect by His presence that
which we have looked for long, but vainly, in His absence, and
by other means.
destroy them which
destroy the earth--Retribution in kind (compare Re
16:6; Lu 19:27). See on Da
7:14-18.
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Verse 19. A similar solemn conclusion
to that of the seventh seal, Re
8:5, and to that of the seventh vial, Re
16:18. Thus, it appears, the seven seals, the seven
trumpets, and the seven vials, are not consecutive, but
parallel, and ending in the same consummation. They present
the unfolding of God's plans for bringing about the grand end
under three different aspects, mutually complementing each
other.
the temple--the
sanctuary or Holy place (Greek, "naos"),
not the whole temple (Greek, "hieron").
opened in heaven--A and C read
the article, "the temple of God "which is" in heaven, was
opened."
the ark of his
testament--or ". . . His covenant." As in
the first verse the earthly sanctuary was measured, so
here its heavenly antitype is laid open, and the antitype
above to the ark of the covenant in the Holiest Place
below is seen, the pledge of God's faithfulness to His
covenant in saving His people and punishing their and His
enemies. Thus this forms a fit close to the series of trumpet
judgments and an introduction to the episode (the twelfth and
thirteen chapters) as to His faithfulness to His Church. Here
first His secret place, the heavenly sanctuary, is opened for
the assurance of His people; and thence proceed His judgments
in their behalf (Re
14:15, 17; 15:5; 16:17), which the great company in heaven
laud as "true and righteous." This then is parallel to the
scene at the heavenly altar, at the close of the seals and
opening of the trumpets (Re
8:3), and at the close of the episode (the twelfth through
fifteenth chapters) and opening of the vials (Re
15:7, 8). See on Re
12:1, note at the opening of the
chapter.
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Copyright Statement
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Bibliography
Information
Scofield, C. I. "Scofield
Reference Notes on Revelation 11". "Scofield Reference Notes (1917
Edition)".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/srn/view.cgi?book=re&chapter=011>.
1917.
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