Part 17 (1/2)

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of G.o.d.

2. And I saw as it were a sea of gla.s.s mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of gla.s.s, having the harps of G.o.d.

3. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of G.o.d, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord G.o.d Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and wors.h.i.+p before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest:

5. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

6. And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their b.r.e.a.s.t.s girded with golden girdles.

7. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of G.o.d, who liveth for ever and ever.

8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of G.o.d, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The scene presented to us in this vision is but an introduction to the solemn scenes of awful judgment immediately following. The first thing that attracted John's attention was a sign, great and marvelous, ”seven angels having the seven last plagues.” The reason why these are denominated the ”last plagues” is because that ”in them is filled up the wrath of G.o.d.” These are the completion, then, the finis.h.i.+ng up of the work of divine judgment against the persecutors of the church. When the last one is poured out the work is done, the time of judgment is over.

These angels are not designed to symbolize any agencies on earth, for they do not appear on earth; they are simply the conductors of the Revelation. G.o.d never commissions his people on earth to perform such great judgments upon their persecutors as the temporal judgments of the seven last plagues will be shown to be; but, on the contrary, he has given them the express command not to avenge themselves, but to suffer wrong. He himself lays exclusive claim to this prerogative, saying, ”Vengeance is _mine_; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Rom. 12:19.

As soon as the subject of the plagues is introduced and before they are poured out, the narrative suddenly changes and a short history of G.o.d's redeemed saints is given. This, perhaps, thus occurs for two reasons--to a.s.sist us in fixing the chronology of the events described and to encourage us with the thought that, even while the awful judgments of G.o.d are being ”made manifest” upon the haughty oppressors of earth, G.o.d has a chosen people who have ”gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”

They stand upon the ”sea of gla.s.s, having the harps of G.o.d”--a symbol of melody and praise--and sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

The song of Moses was that sung by the Israelites when they had escaped to the further side of the Red Sea, thus securing perfect deliverance from their enemies. So, also, this company of wors.h.i.+pers sing a great song of deliverance--deliverance from the beast and his image. In chapters 4 and 5 John saw the great host redeemed before the apostasy standing on this sea of gla.s.s, singing the song of redemption--the song of the Lamb--but this company are enabled to sing another song as well--the song of deliverance--for they have ”gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.” Halleluiah! ”Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord G.o.d Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”

As before stated (chap. 8:3), the heavenly world as opened up to John appeared symbolized after the sanctuary of the temple. By ”the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony,” out of which the seven angels came fully prepared for their work, is meant the most holy place of the sanctuary, called ”the tabernacle of the testimony” because there was deposited in it, beneath the wings of the cherubim, the ark of the testimony, or G.o.d's covenant. It was therefore as from the most holy place of the sanctuary--from the very presence of the Deity--that these angels went forth commissioned to execute the seven last plagues. This shows that they went by the divine command as ministers of vengeance.

The purity and beauty of their attire denoted both the spotless excellency of their characters and the justice of the work in which they were to engage. Although theirs was a work of awful avenging judgment, still the garments they wore would not be soiled thereby; and their flowing robes of white were girded up with a beautiful golden girdle.

Therefore there is no inconsistency between the purity and love of G.o.d and the work of his vengeance. It would seem to human reasoning that the two are irreconcilable, but these symbols teach differently.

These angels received their vials (goblets) of wrath at the hands of one of the four living creatures, who are symbols of the redeemed sons of earth. Their deliverance by one of these doubtless denotes that these judgments were to be executed in their behalf and in answer to their prayers. For centuries the wrath of deadly persecutors had been poured out upon G.o.d's people, until the cry ascended from the lips of the martyrs, ”How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Chap. 6:10. Now their prayer is answered, and by their hand, as it were, the vials of wrath are delivered with the divine sanction unto the seven angels to be poured out upon these proud oppressors of the Lord's people. These vials, too, were ”full of wrath.” What a fearful expression! _Full of wrath_, even ”_the wrath of G.o.d_, who liveth forever and ever.” There was nothing in them but wrath and that to the very brim.

As soon as the vials were delivered, ”the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of G.o.d.” This symbol is taken from the Shekinah which filled the ancient tabernacle. We read that when the tabernacle was finished, ”a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Ex. 40:34, 35. The same thing occurred at the dedication of Solomon's temple. ”The cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 8:10, 11. So, also, in the symbol before us the glory of G.o.d filled the temple so that no man was able to enter. This is intended to set forth the fact that these avenging judgments were for the manifestation of the divine glory and that there was no access to the throne of G.o.d nor to his mercy-seat to alter them or to stay their execution. Such is the sublime scene presented to our view preparatory to the pouring out of the seven last great plagues.

CHAPTER XVI.

And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of G.o.d upon the earth.

2. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which wors.h.i.+pped his image.

A great voice out of the temple, now filled with the glory of the divine presence, commanded the seven angels to enter upon their mission. It came, therefore, from G.o.d, who alone fixed the time for these judgments to begin.

Before an intelligent explanation of these plagues can be given, however, the following points must be made clear: 1. _Where_ the vials were poured out. 2. _Upon whom_ they were emptied. 3. _Why_ they were thus poured out. 4. _When_ they were fulfilled, or, rather, at what time they began to be fulfilled. These points we will first briefly consider in the order named, after which we will discuss the _nature_ of the plagues and their individual application.

1. The place where these vials of wrath were poured out was ”upon the earth”; that is, the Apocalyptic earth, or that portion of the earth made the special subject of Apocalyptic vision; namely, the territory of the ten kingdoms. The last two vials, however, will be found to embrace a larger territory.

2. They were poured out upon those ”which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which wors.h.i.+ped his image.” It has already been shown that the image made by the second beast of chapter 13 was the Protestant ecclesiastical organizations; hence the ”beast” here referred to, to which the image was made, must signify the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Rome, the original. So the plagues fell upon the adherents of both organized Romanism and Protestantism in Europe.

3. The reason why the judgments of the first three vials especially descended upon them was because ”they had shed the blood of saints and prophets.” Verse 6. That Romanism was a fierce oppressor of G.o.d's people has already been noticed: Protestantism as their persecutor, also, must now be considered further. Protestant sects after they first became established and got power in their own hands, acted much in the same manner as the church of Rome did before them, persecuting, banis.h.i.+ng, imprisoning, and even putting to death those who refused to receive their tenets or to conform to the system of religion they had adopted.

The Lutherans, at first a pious, persecuted people, on becoming numerous and exalted by the favor of the great, established a certain system of religion and then, when it was in their power, persecuted, imprisoned, banished, or put to death all that dissented. As early after the Reformation as 1574, in a convention at Torgaw, they established the real presence in the eucharist and instigated the Elector of Saxony to seize, imprison, and banish all the secret Calvinists that differed from them in sentiment, and to reduce their followers by every act of violence, to renounce their sentiments and to confess the ubiquity.