THE RAINBOW ANGEL.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CLOSE.

THE 10th chapter of the Apocalypse introduces our Lord himself as announcing the close of the times of the Gentiles, and the introduction of the Jewish renovation and restoration:-" And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices " (Rev. x. 1-3).

The rainbow on His head manifests Him as "the Angel of the covenant." "The little book" in His hand is not the book with seven seals, which He had received on His inauguration with all power in heaven and in earth committed to Him, but rather a special revelation to St John spoken by the seven thunders. "And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and

the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets" (Rev. x. 4-7).

Standing upon earth and sea implies His universal dominion. Daniel saw Him standing over the river Hiddekel, implying dominion over the then great empire, but here He occupies both sea and land.

His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the land make His face to look toward Jerusalem, which indicates that He was about to disclose Jewish matters. Accordingly (like the similar vision in Daniel xii.) He swears by Him that liveth for ever and ever that there shall be time [xpóvos, delay] no longer, but that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared [the glad tidings] by His servants the prophets -i.e., the close of the Gentile times and the introduction of the Jewish times. So said St Paul: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom. xi. 25, 26).

St John was commanded to eat up the little book— i.e., to meditate well on its contents. But whether those contents were the same as the voice of the seven thunders

we are not informed. He was, however, told that he was to be the recipient of new revelations. Accordingly a new series of visions follows, displaying to us various aspects of the times of the Gentiles.

Three aspects of 1260 days in their relation to the Gentile Church-1. As a corrupted temple; 2. The fall and persecuting power of the Papacy; 3. Imperialism, in political combination with the Papacy become a political system.

FIRST, THE GENTILE CHURCH AS A
CORRUPTED TEMPLE.

THE 11th chapter of the Apocalypse gives us a view of the whole Church as a corrupted temple; indeed, a temple paganised: "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod; and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein" (Rev. xi. 1).

The temple of God is, as we have already seen on 2 Thess. ii., the Gentile Church. Solomon's temple consisted of three parts:-1. The holy of holies, called the oracle-i.e., the speaking place with God (1 Kings vi. 16; Exod. xxv. 22). 2. The temple strictly so called— i.e., the court of the priests (1 Kings vi. 17). 3. The outer court, for the circumcised people. Our holy of holies is "far above all heavens," where Jesus is. Our

holy place is partly in paradise, and partly includes true believers, who "present their bodies a living sacrifice" (Rom. xii. 1). Our outer court is the great body of the baptized, who are the Lord's people in the sense in which the circumcised of old were.

When, therefore, St John was commanded to measure the temple of God, as distinguished from the outer court, God intended to declare the safety of His true people when all around were paganised. The outer court were all the rest. They deliberately "believed a lie," and worshipped the work of their own hands. Notwithstanding their Christian name, God counted them as Pagans: "The court that is without the temple cast out." This was the voice of awful judgment when East and West concurred in corrupting the truth. An additional judgment was, "The holy city shall they tread under foot forty-two months."

While men are boasting of church authority, of the holy Catholic Church, and even claiming infallibility for her, the Divine judgment upon her is that she has become paganised, she is "cast out," awaiting her doom. We must, however, beware of misapplying this awful truth. She is still the vine of the earth, and our duty towards her is to recognise her divine commission, while we have no fellowship with her corruptions. It was thus that the prophets acted; and in a later age, our Lord himself and His apostles, as well as the apostolic Church. Our Lord said, "Your house is left unto you desolate ;" and yet, when the Pentecostal Spirit was poured out, it is said of the disciples, "They con

tinued daily with one accord in the temple" (Acts ii. 46). Peter and John also went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts iii. 1).

THE TWO WITNESSES.

In the darkest times of His Church the Lord never leaves Himself without faithful witnesses. Accordingly, when the revelation is given of the paganising of the outer court it is accompanied by a symbolic description of the Lord's faithful ones :-" And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth; and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power

to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people, and kindreds, and