Part 14 (2/2)

Indeed, the language of the second implies little or no hope of their recovery. This third angel, ”following” up the scriptural testimony of those who went before, and a.s.suming that church and state,--the essential elements of the antichristian system,--continue irreclaimable, addresses his message to _individuals_. This angel is the last that the Lord Jesus will employ to awaken sinners that ”are at ease in Zion.” His ministry is yet future, and he will never be succeeded by an angel of mercy until mystical Babylon is overthrown. The special, arduous and perilous work of this angel is, to threaten eternal death against every individual who persists in the hitherto popular idolatry. ”If any man wors.h.i.+p the beast.”--Up to the time of this angel's appearance the beast lives and devours his prey: consequently, his work comes within the period of the 1260 years. During this limited time, there will be found in the Apocalypse _three objects_ of popular devotion,--the dragon, (ch.

xiii. 4,) the _beast_, and his _image_, (v. 15.) In this place the dragon is omitted, as also in ch. xv. 2; xx. 4. We may ask, why the omission?--Simply because ”the things which the _Gentiles_ sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to G.o.d,” (1 Cor. x. 20;) consequently, these wors.h.i.+ppers being _Gentiles_, (ch. xi. 2,) there is no necessity that the dragon (the devil) should be particularized. From the first rise of the beast, he was in alliance with the dragon, (ch. xiii. 2, 3;) therefore both are doomed to perdition, (ch. xx. 10.) Most expositors consider this angel as emblematical of events already past; the reformation effected by Luther, his coadjutors and successors, or the church of England![9] Their error consists in viewing the beast as the symbol of the church of Rome. And it is remarkable, that through the power of local and political bias, those commentators who themselves perceive that the beast of the sea in chapter xiii. 1, symbolizes the Roman _empire_, lose sight of their _own exposition_ when they arrive at the place before us! And of this bias and inconsistency they seem to be wholly unconscious! No, there has never yet appeared in the symbolic heaven a minister or ecclesiastical organization, which has authoritatively denounced everlasting punishment against all who ”receive the mark of the beast.” It is to be noticed here that the sins charged are _c.u.mulative_, not _distributive_. Guilt is contracted as here charged, by ”wors.h.i.+pping the beast and his image, and receiving his mark.” If the beast signify immoral civil power, and his image signify the Papacy, as we have seen they do, then it follows that wors.h.i.+pping both, and receiving the mark of the former, const.i.tute the special guilt here charged by the angel: that is, eulogizing, praising, and actively co-operating with civil and ecclesiastical society, at war with the Bible--in organized hostility to the Lord and his Anointed. (Ps. ii. 9.) ”Shall the throne of iniquity have fellows.h.i.+p with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?” (Ps. xciv. 20.) But during the 1260 years, the secular imperial beast consists of ”kingdoms of this world” in alliance with the beast of the earth, (ch. xiii. 1, 11.) And as both are for their crimes consigned to utter destruction, so in the time of the ”third angel,” every individual is threatened with everlasting punishment, who identifies with them. ”No _temporal_ judgments on _collective_ bodies can be the fulfilment of this awful denunciation, which evidently relates to _individuals_, and to each individual who is guilty; and if words can convey the idea of eternal punishment, it is here denounced.”[10] The words in the original, translated ”for ever and ever,” (v. 11,) are the strongest in the Greek language to signify eternity, and are not susceptible of any other meaning.

As already intimated, the special mission and awful message of this angel is yet future; but the testimony of his predecessor will have made the tyranny, idolatry, immorality and profligacy of civil despots and mercenary ministers so palpable and glaring, that the vengeance of the Lord proclaimed by the last messenger will appear to be just. In this way the ”two witnesses smite the earth with all plagues,” (ch. xi. 6;) for they are identical with the ”third angel,” and have an active agency in the work of judgment to be executed upon the antichristian enemies, (ch. xv. 7.) And ”who knows the power of that wrath which is poured out without mixture into the cup of Jehovah's indignation?” In temporal judgments there may be a mixture of mercy; but there is no such element in the cup of the impenitent votaries of mystic Babylon. ”Holy angels”

look on without sympathy for her agonies, while the Lamb inflicts the tremendous penalty of her complicated and long-continued crimes. ”_He_ shall be tormented--_their_ torment:”--individuals found guilty of complicity with Babylon, will be bound up into bundles as fuel for that fire and brimstone, whose ”smoke ascendeth up for ever and ever.” ”They have no rest day nor night who wors.h.i.+p the beast,”--no mitigation of their sufferings. They are doomed to dwell ”with everlasting burnings.”

(Is. x.x.xiii. 14.) Such are the denunciations which the ”third angel” is commissioned to proclaim in the ears of men, either to bring them to repentance, or to justify the Lamb in punis.h.i.+ng their impenitent disobedience. Now ”every one who is acquainted with the writings of the reformers and their successors, knows that they generally declared, without hesitation, that popery is a d.a.m.nable religion.”[11] Popery, however, is the religion which has corrupted states and churches throughout the world; and therefore future reformers will not hesitate to join civil states with her in their testimony and prayers, saying,--”The wicked shall be turned into h.e.l.l, _and all the nations_ that forget G.o.d. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name; for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.” (Psa. ix. 17; lxxix. 6, 7.)

12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of G.o.d, and the faith of Jesus.

13. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Vs. 12, 13.--The faithful and pointed testimony of the ”third angel” of reform against the organized enemies of G.o.d in church and state, instead of producing repentance, tends only to provoke them to greater rage against those who thus awaken their consciences and disturb their sinful repose. The fires of persecution are again kindled, and the witnesses are subjected to the anathemas of the church and the sword of the civil magistrate,--the cruelty of the two beasts. It is therefore added,--”Here is the patience of the saints.” The events predicted here agree in time with ch. xiii. 10; and the subjects of persecution are the same moral person in their legitimate successors who appeared in ch.

xii. 17. They ”keep the commandments of G.o.d and the faith of Jesus,”

while the mult.i.tude ”obey unrighteousness, receiving for doctrines the commandments of men.”

To animate these sufferers who are in ”jeopardy every hour” and who have the sentence of death as outlaws, p.r.o.nounced against them by Antichrist, John ”heard a voice from heaven,” directing him to write,--”Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth.”--To ”die in the Lord,”--means, in the faith and hope of the gospel, relieved by the ”witness of the Spirit” from the overwhelming fears of the pains of _purgatory_. Both negatively and positively, this angel testifies against the antichristian dogma of purgatory. He declares that the torments of the wicked continue ”for ever and ever,” while the righteous who die in the Lord, ”cease from their labours.”--No stronger testimony can be conceived against the more gross papal heresy, or the more modern and so called philosophical delusions of Universalists, Socinians and others,--all of whom are the offspring of the ”mother of harlots.” But besides the voice from heaven, and the concurrent witness of the Spirit, against the papal dogma of purgatory, the ”rest” here proclaimed for the comfort of martyred saints, may be also understood as a termination to their sharp conflicts with Antichrist. ”_Henceforth_ they rest from their labours,”--they shall never again be called to ”resist unto blood, striving against sin,” as heretofore, by the combined opposition of the ”beast and false prophet,” organized tyranny and idolatry. The ministry of the ”third angel,” cotemporary with the ”seventh trumpet,”--the third and last ”woe,” prepares society throughout Christendom for entering into the millennial rest.

14. And I looked, and, behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15. And another came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

Vs. 14-16.--The gathering in of the harvest is sometimes emblematical of mercy,--as when the believer is gathered to his fathers by death. His sanctification being completed, he is taken home ”as a shock of corn ripe in his season.” Reaping and thres.h.i.+ng, however, are most frequently symbolical of divine judgments, (Jer. li. 33;) and the apostle refers here to the same event which the Lord foretold by the mouth of other prophets. (Joel iii. 13-17; Micah iv. 12, 13.) This harvest is emblematical of divine judgment on the nations of apostate Christendom.

He who executes the judgment is one like the Son of man, the Lord Christ. Enthroned on a ”white cloud” as his chariot, and having on his royal ”head a golden crown,” the symbol of sovereignty, at the solicitation, the loud cry of the symbolic angel,--a gospel ministry, he ”thrusts in his ”sharp sickle,” the emblem of avenging justice, and with infinite ease, ”the earth is reaped.” This work of punis.h.i.+ng guilty _nations_ is not so proper to the ministry, the functions of whose office are of a spiritual nature; yet are they active in a way competent to them, calling upon the ”Lord of the harvest” to reap. They judge of the signs of the times. Such is part of their appropriate work. Thus they say,--”The time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” The Lord Jesus appeared in royal majesty to John, as he had appeared to Ezekiel, (ch. i. 26;) and to Daniel, (ch. vii. 13.) The cloud on which he sat had a bright side towards his saints, but to his enemies a dark side, as at the Red Sea. (Ex. xiv. 19, 20.)

The two judgments of the _harvest_ and _vintage_, are obviously an allusion to a natural order in the climate of Judea. Not only did the barley and wheat-harvest precede the time of gathering grapes, but some s.p.a.ce elapsed between these labors of the husbandman. The usual order is observed here.

17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the cl.u.s.ters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of G.o.d.

20. And the wine press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press even unto the horse-bridles, by the s.p.a.ce of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

Vs. 17-20.--As the ministry of the ”third angel,” (v. 9,) was final, as to p.r.o.nouncing the deserved doom of all the adherents of the antichristian system, so in the symbols of the _harvest_ and _vintage_, we have the execution of that sentence exhibited. The nations of Christendom, having drunk the wine of the mother of harlots, and of her daughters too, and having exhausted the patience of the Lord Jesus, refusing to repent, while he warned them by his servants the three angels of reform,--”rising early and sending them,” were at length ”ripe” for his sharp sickle. Long had he expostulated with them, saying to them, while addressing his church,--”The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee (O Zion,) shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” (Isa. lx. 12.)--The desolating judgments of the reigning Mediator, having brought those nations to ”hate the wh.o.r.e,”

they become the willing and zealous agents of her destruction, as appears, (ch. xvii. 16.)

The ”gathering of the cl.u.s.ters of the vine of the earth,”--is a concise emblematical representation of that tremendous work of punis.h.i.+ng the apostate church, to be exhibited in greater detail in the following chapters.

The ”angel coming out of the temple,”--represents the gospel ministry as usual. His ”having a sharp sickle” may import his more immediate agency in this than in the preceding work of the harvest.” Christ himself judged the nations,--had the ”sharp sickle;” but in reckoning with impenitent ecclesiastical communities, he will honor his faithful servants. As in ”measuring the temple,”--the Mediator held the instrument in his own hand under the Old Testament, (Zech. ii. 1,) but under the New Testament gave it into the hand of John, the representative of a gospel ministry, (ch. xi. 1,) so that transaction may ill.u.s.trate the symbols here.

The other angel ”coming from the altar, who had power over fire,” is also symbolical of the ministry. The sickle in the hand of the former angel, is for gathering the grapes; while the connexion of the latter angel with the ”altar,” imports that a sacrifice is about to be offered, as customary, to appease divine justice.--The ”vine of the earth” is plainly contrasted with the true vine. (Ps. lx.x.x. 1; Jer. ii. 21.) This is a vine of Sodom with cl.u.s.ters of Gomorrah, (ch. xi. 8; Deut. x.x.xii.

32, 33.) It is the symbol of an apostate church, the chief heresy of which is a practical rejection of the atonement of Christ; for it is certain that vindictive justice is an attribute of G.o.d, and that he will demand satisfaction from those impenitent sinners who despise his mercy in the gospel offer, and ”tread under foot the blood of the covenant wherewith Christ was sanctified.” (Heb. x. 29.) A heavier doom awaits all such than to ”die without mercy,” which was the penalty for those who ”despised Moses' law.” No sacrifice is appointed for the man or the church that sins presumptuously. (Num. xv. 30, 31.) To all such, ”_our_ G.o.d is a consuming fire.” (Heb. xii. 29.)--The one angel calls upon the other,--encourages his companion, to execute the judgment of G.o.d.

”Thrust in thy sharp sickle.”--Under the superintendence of the Mediator, his servants by their prayers and their sermons have an active part in this work of judgment. From the mouth of the witnesses proceeded fire to devour their enemies, (ch. xi. 5.) This is the last work of judgment in which they will be honoured. Joining their victorious predecessors who overcame the antichristian combinations ”by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony,” (chs. vi. 9, 10; xii. 11,) these undaunted servants of the Lord are honored by him as instrumental in the infliction of the final judgments symbolized by the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial,--the third and _last woe_.--The ”wine-press” is the symbol of the ”wrath of G.o.d,” and its location ”without the city,” denotes that the churches of the apostacy are excommunicated,--”reprobate silver, because the Lord hath rejected them.”

We are not told here by whom the grapes are trodden; but this is the work of the Lord Jesus himself, who in the days of his flesh on earth forewarned his impenitent foes that he would thus deal with them in his wrath. ”Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” (Luke xix. 27; Isa. lxiii.

3; Rev. xix. 15.)--The blood in depth is to the ”horse-bridles,” and in extent ”a thousand and six hundred furlongs,”--200 miles! Although this language is hyperbolical, it is intended to signify ”a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that same time G.o.d's people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan. xii. 1; Rev. xiii. 8.)--Thus it appears that church and state, having combined in the antichristian apostacy, are severally visited with the unmingled wine of the wrath of G.o.d. All the saints shall have obeyed the call,--”Come out of her, my people;” and mystic Babylon shall then be utterly destroyed. Whether Palestine, the Pope's patrimony, or some other territory be understood by the ”1600 furlongs,” is matter of vague conjecture by all expositors, and is to be verified only by the fulfilment of the prediction.

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