CHAPTER XIV. 1-5 Safety and happiness of the elect. 6, 7 Spreading of the Gospel before the Second Advent. 8 Fall of Babylon, the symbol of the harlot Church. 9-11 Miserable end of world-worshippers. 12, 13 Confidence and reward of the saints. 14-20 A vision of the final judgment, the reaping of the harvest and the gathering of the vintage. 1 AND I looked, and, behold, the Lamb standing upon Mount Sion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father 2 written upon their foreheads; and I heard a voice out of heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of great thundering; and the voice which I heard 3 was as that of harpers harping on their harps; and they sung a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one was able to learn the song, except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the 1. Having given a picture of the great anathematising, persecuting Hierarchy of Roman Christendom, he hastens to show us how it shall fare with the saints of God. The Lamb shall surely conquer in the end and all who truly follow Him. In chapter vii. they were sealed with the seal of the living God; in chapter xi. they were measured with the angel's rod; and : here they have the name of the Lamb and of His Father written upon their foreheads in strong contrast with those who are the worshippers of this world, and so are branded on their right hands and on their foreheads with the mark and name and number of the wild-beast. 2, 3. The ear of faith alone can catch the distant shout of the elect of Israel and of the re 4 earth. These are they which have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he leadeth; these have been redeemed by Jesus from amongst 5 men, being the first-fruits to God and the Lamb; and in their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless. And I saw another angel flying between heaven and earth, having the eternal gospel to publish to those who dwell upon the earth, and to every nation and 7 tribe and language and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. 8 And another second angel followed, saying, Babylon deemed out of the whole world; the song of those who have escaped out of the trials and tribulations of this life and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.1 4, 5. The great visible Church, corrupted by power and riches, has played the harlot with the wild-beast, the enemy of the Lamb her husband; but the faithful witnesses,2 the remnant of the woman's seed, to whatever church or nation they may have belonged, have kept the commandments of God and held fast the testimony of Jesus,3 and so have escaped the spiritual forni cation of their times, and been found free from guilt and fault. 6, 7. Our Lord foretold that His Gospel should be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations' before the end should come.4 And so we recognise in a great increase of knowledge and the spreading of the Gospel of salvation in heathen lands, one of the signs of the coming of Christ to judgment. He will not strike without warning, even though the warning may be disregarded. 8-11. But judgment must begin as of old with the house of God.5 1 Chap vii. 14. 2 Rev. xi. 3. 3 Rev. xii. 17 1 Pet. iv 17. 4 St. Matt. xxiv. 14. the great hath fallen, hath fallen, who made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 9 And another third angel followed these, saying with a loud voice, If any man worshippeth the wildbeast and his likeness, and receiveth his mark upon his 10 forehead or upon his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy 11 angels and before the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night who worship the wild-beast and his likeness, and whoever receiveth the mark of 12 his name. Here is the patience of the saints, who The great harlot must be punished first. She who has been already called the holy city, trodden under foot by the Gentiles, the great city, Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified, and in whose streets His faithful witnesses long bear witness in sackcloth and then are slain by the wild-beast; 1 1 she who is here called by anticipation Babylon the Great, the great corrupt and corrupting Christian Hierarchy, must be judged first, and then all those who worship this world and are branded as its slaves. The great wild-beast, after having long supported her, will grow weary of the harlot, and Chap. xi. turn against her and destroy her; and then will himself go into perdition with all his worshippers. The events of this chapter follow in an order consistent with all the rest of the prophecy. The first angel spreads widely the knowledge of God and proclaims His coming judgment; the second announces the fall of the harlot Church; the third, the judgment of those powers who have punished the corrupt Church, not for the sake of truth but for their own pleasure, and to free themselves from all the restraints of religion.3 12. He here repeats that it is the chief object of this prophecy keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice out of heaven, saying, Write, 14 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; yea, from henceforth, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them. And I looked, and, behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sitting like the Son of man, having upon his head a golden wreath, and in his hand a 15 sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him who was sitting upon the cloud: Put in thy sickle and reap, for the hour of reaping is come, for the harvest of the 16 earth is fully ripe. And he who sat on the cloud put in his sickle to the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is to support the faith of the saints, of those who keep God's commandments and are faithful to Jesus. 13. They may suffer here, they may even die for Christ, but they will rest and reign with Him in the intermediate state, and come to the judgment with Him at the resurrection of the dead.' 14-20. This portion of the prophecy comes to a close with a vision of the last judgment, under the natural images of the harvest and the treading of the grapes in the wine-press. Chap. vi. 11; xx. 4, 5; 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. 2 St. Matt. xiii. 39. 5 Isai. lxiii. 1-6. 18 in heaven, himself also having a sharp sickle; anl another angel came from the altar having power over fire; and he cried with a loud voice to him who held the sharp sickle, saying, Put in thy sharp sickle, and gather the grapes of the vine of the earth, for her 19 clusters are fully ripe. And the angel put in his sickle to the earth, and reaped the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of 20 God. And the wine-press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the wine-press up to the bits of the horses for sixteen hundred furlongs. stream indicates the thoroughness and appalling character of the last Judgment; and the number of furlongs its extent and universality. All through this prophecy the number four, with its multiples, symbolises universality; just as seven implies perfection and completeness. Thus we have the four angels, the four corners of the earth, the four winds, the 144,000 of the elect of Israel, sealed with the Father's name; and so here the blood of the slain flowing for four times four hundred furlongs. |