The Commentary | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 25, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 45.

The Commentary.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

Worshiping God and the Lamb.

By the words, "him that sat on the throne," is evidently meant the Father, as the Son is subsequently introduced as "a Lamb as it had been slain." The book which John here saw, contained a revelation of scenes that were to transpire in the history of the church to the end of time. Its being held in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne may signify that a knowledge of the future rests with God alone, only so far as he sees fit to reveal it to others.

THE book. The books in use at the time the Revelation was given, were not in the form of books as now made. They did not consist of a series of leaves bound together, but were composed of strips of parchment, or other material, longer or shorter, one or more, and rolled up.

NOT long is John permitted to weep. God is not willing that any knowledge which can be of benefit to his people, shall be withheld. Provision is made for the opening of the book. Hence, one of the elders says to him, "Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

THE Root of David. The source and sustainer of David as to his position and power. That David's position was specially ordained of Christ, and that he was specially sustained by him, there can be no doubt. David was the type; Christ the antitype. David's throne and reign over Israel was a type of Christ's reign over his people. He shall reign upon the throne of his father David. Luke 1:32, 33. As Christ appeared in the line of David's descendants when he took upon himself our nature, he is also called the offspring of David, and a root out of the stem of Jesse. Isa. 11:1, 10; Rev. 22:16. His connection with the throne of David being thus set forth, and his right thus shown to rule over the people of God, there was a propriety in intrusting to him the opening of the seals.

HATH prevailed. These words indicate that the right to open the book was acquired by a victory gained in some previous conflict. And so we find it set forth in subsequent portions of this chapter. The very next scene introduces us to the great work of Christ as the Redeemer of the world, the shedding of his blood for the remission of sin, and the salvation of man. In this work he was subjected to the fiercest assaults of Satan. But he endured his temptations, bore the agonies of the cross, rose a victor over death and the grave, made the way of redemption sure, triumphed! Hence the four living beings and the four and twenty elders sing, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood."

SEVEN horns and seven eyes. Horns are symbols of power, eyes of wisdom; and seven is a number denoting completion or perfection. We are thus taught that perfect power and perfect wisdom inhere in the Lamb, through the operation of the Spirit of God, called the seven spirits of God, to denote the fullness and perfection of its operation.

HE came and took the book. Commentators have found an incongruity in the idea of a lamb's taking the book, etc., and have had recourse to several expedients to avoid the difficulty. But is it not a well-established principle that any action may be attributed to a symbol, which could be appropriately performed by the person or being represented by the symbol? And is not this all the explanation that the passage needs? The lamb, we know, is a symbol of Christ. We know there is nothing incongruous in Christ's taking a book; and when we read that the book was taken, we think of the action not as performed by the lamb, but by the one of whom the lamb is a symbol.

"WE shall reign on the earth." Thus notwithstanding they are redeemed, and surround the throne of God, and are in the presence of the Lamb that redeemed them, and are surrounded with the angelic hosts of Heaven, where all is glory ineffable, their song contemplates a still higher state, when the great work of redemption shall be completed, and they, with the whole redeemed family of God of every age, shall reign on the earth, which is the promised inheritance, and is to be the final and eternal residence of the saints. Rom. 4:13; Gal. 3:29; Ps. 37:11; Matt. 5:5; 2 Pet. 3:13; Isa. 65:17-25; Rev. 21:1-5.

THE heavenly sanctuary. How little conception have we of the magnitude and glory of the heavenly temple! Into that temple John was introduced at the opening of chapter 4, by the door which was opened in Heaven. Into the same temple, he is still looking in verses 11 and 12. And now he beholds the heavenly hosts. 1. Round about the throne are those represented by the four living creatures. 2. Next come the four and twenty elders. 3. Then John views, surrounding the whole, a multitude of the heavenly angels. How many? How many would we be likely to suppose could convene within the heavenly temple? "Ten thousand times ten thousand," exclaims the seer. In this expression alone we have one hundred millions! And then, as if no arithmetical expression was adequate to embrace the countless throng, he further adds, "And thousands of thousands!" Well might Paul call this, in Heb. 11:22, "an innumerable company of angels."

AND these were in the sanctuary above. Such was the company that John saw assembled at the place where the worship of a universe centers, and where the wondrous plan of human redemption is being carried forward to completion. And the central object in this innumerable and holy throng, was the Lamb of God; and the central act of his life, which claimed their admiration, was the shedding of his blood for the salvation of fallen man; for every voice in all that heavenly host joined in the ascription which was raised, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."

FITTING assemblage for such a place! Fitting song of adoration to be raised to Him who by the shedding of his blood became a ransom for many, and who, as our great High Priest, still pleads its merits in the sanctuary above in our behalf. And here, before such an august assemblage, must our characters soon come up in final review. What shall fit us for the searching ordeal? And what shall enable us to rise and stand at last with the sinless throng above? Oh, infinite merit of the blood of Christ, which can cleanse us from all our pollutions, and make us meet to tread the holy hill of Zion! Oh, infinite grace of God, which can prepare us to endure the glory, and give us boldness to enter into his presence, even with exceeding joy!

IN verse 13 we have an instance of what very frequently occurs in the Scriptures, namely, a declaration thrown in out of its chronological order, for the purpose of following out to its completion some previous statement or allusion. In this instance the time is anticipated when redemption is finished. In verse 10, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders had declared, "We shall reign on the earth." Now the prophet's mind is caught right forward to that time. The greatest act of Christ's intervention for man, the shedding of his blood having been introduced, nothing could be more natural than that the vision should, for a moment, look over to the time when the grand result of the work then introduced, should be accomplished, the number of the redeemed be made up, the universe be freed from sin and sinners, and a universal song of adoration go up to God and the Lamb.

IT is futile to attempt to apply this to the church in its present state, as most commentators do, or to any time in the past since sin entered the world, or even since Satan fell from his high position as an angel of light and love in Heaven. For at the time of which John speaks, every creature in Heaven and on earth, without any exception, was sending up its anthem of blessings to God. But to speak only of this world since the fall, cursings instead of blessings have been breathed out against God and his throne, from the great majority of our apostate race. And so it will ever be while sin reigns.

WE find, then, no place for this scene which John describes, unless we do go forward, according to the position above taken, to the time when the whole scheme of redemption is completed, and the saints enter upon their promised reign on the earth, to which the living creatures and elders looked forward in their song in verse 10. With this view, all is harmonious and plain. That reign on the earth commences after the second resurrection. Dan. 7:27; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1. At that resurrection, which takes place a thousand years subsequently to the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4, 5), occurs the perdition of ungodly men. 2 Pet. 3:7. Then fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them. Rev. 20:9. And this fire that causes the perdition of ungodly men, is the fire that melts and purifies the earth, as we learn from 2 Pet. 3:7-13.

THEN sin and sinners are destroyed, the earth is purified, the curse with all its ills is forever wiped away, the righteous "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," and from a clean universe, an anthem of praise and thanksgiving ascends to God. In all the fair domain of the great Creator, there is then no room for a vast receptacle of fire and brimstone, where myriads, preserved by the direct power of a God of mercy, shall burn and writhe in unspeakable and eternal torment. In this glad anthem of jubilee there is no room for the discordant and hopeless wailings of the damned, and the curses and blasphemies of those who are sinning and suffering beyond the pale of hope. Every rebel voice has been hushed in death. They have been burned up root and branch, Satan and all his followers, deceiver and deceived. Mal. 4:1; Heb. 2:14. Into smoke have they consumed away. Ps. 37:20. Like the perishable chaff have they vanished in the flames. Matt. 3:12. They have been annihilated, not as matter, but as conscious and intelligent beings; for they have become as though they had not been. Obad. 16.