Copyright, 1910, by
Milton C. Wilcox. "Let the Revelation speak and tell what is truth. . . . Uplift Jesus as the center of all hope."
XXI. The Opening Bible and Results
THE ninth chapter of the Revelation carries us in a general way to the close of the second wo trumpet, even as the sixth chapter carries us to the close of the seventh seal. As the sealing work of chapter seven was supplementary to the period of the sixth seal, so chapters 10 and 11 are supplementary to the period of the sixth trumpet, episodial, which belonged to the time, but are not part of the regular series. God would have His children know that His people and their work are remembered, notwithstanding the prevalence of war.
Having been brought to the close of the sixth trumpet period, the shorter supplemental prophecy is first considered, confined to the period of the sixth trumpet; then a longer one covering in a general way the period of all the trumpets to the close of the sixth, emphasizing as always the latter phases of the prophecy.
The Answer of the Text
[The answers to the questions are from the American Revised Version. Omitting questions, and disregarding sometimes the capital at the beginning and the period at the close of an answer, the text may be read continuously. In notes and comments both versions are used without designation.]
1. Give the description of another angel John saw.
And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.
2. What did the angel hold in his hand?
And he had in his hand a little book open.
3. Where did he stand?
And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth.
4. How did he cry, and what followed?
And he cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth: and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.
5. What things might not John record?
And when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
6. What oath did the angel take?
And the angel that I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him that liveth forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things that are therein, and the earth and the things that are therein, and the sea and the things that are therein, that there shall be delay no longer.
7. What did he declare would follow?
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which He declared to His servants the prophets.
8. What was John instructed to do?
And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard it again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel that standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9. What was he told to do with reference to the book?
And I went unto the angel, saying unto him that he should give me the little book. And he saith unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.
10. What was John's experience?
And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter.
11. What was again said to him?
And they say unto me, Thou must prophecy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
Note and Comment
1. Another strong angel.—A different angel from those of the trumpets, a mighty angel representing a mighty work, coming down from heaven, indicating great power, divine in its origin. Compare with 18:1 and 14:6. Flying through heaven would simply mean the proclamation of a work that all would see and hear; but coming down from heaven to earth would show that its power would be manifest on the earth. The angel that bears such wondrous likeness to our Lord (see chapter 1:12-18) is held by some writers to be He; but rather it seems to us the angel is representative of a mighty work wrought in the world by the word of Jesus Christ. He is commissioned by Christ, and filled with the power of the Master. The work wrought bears the characteristics of Christ's work. Cloud indicates obscurity, lacking the full clearness of the angel of chapter 18. There is connected with obscurity and clouds more or less of confusion and discouragement; but these are offset by the covenant rainbow, a pledge of God's promises, His everlasting remembrance before His throne. Chapter 4:3. As the sun.—The clear light of righteousness, the shining of which through the clouds revealed the covenant bow of God's mercies. Pillars of fire.—Indicative of passing through the fiery trials and the furnace heat. So Christ's work in the earth will be manifest among His followers.
2. A little book open.—A diminutive book, or scroll, a part of the great book, not the full book, of which the Lamb broke the seals. Chapter 6. Open.—Rotherham and others render it "opened," showing that it had once been sealed or closed. So was the book in the right hand of the Most High, chapter 5:1. So was the revelation of God to Daniel closed up and sealed "till the time of the end." Dan. 12:4, 9. What then is the little book held in the hand of the angel but a part of the seven-sealed book? Not all, not the fullest revelation, not all the light on the purposes of God; for it is a little scroll; not entirely clear, for the angel was arrayed in a cloud. Still there is enough of God's mighty Gospel to be manifested in great power, awaiting its fulness when revealed in the later messages, symbolized by the angel of chapter 18:1. And why was not the beginning of this work manifest when the great Reformation of the sixteenth century broke upon the world, continuing through cloud and discouragement from a worldly view, through the centuries, till it closes the work indicated by the oath of the angel, based on the time prophecies of the sealed book of Daniel, now opened in this "time of the end"? It seems to us that the vision is large enough to compass God's last, prolonged effort to save men, beginning with the open Bible of the Reformation and closing with the opening prophecies of the latter days. The breaking of the first four seals was epochal, and they brought us to the time of the Reformation. They were broken over an apostate church, which would not hear; but in the darkness some heard the great voice. Surely then began the progressive work and revelation for the closing drama. Every later development found its root, its beginning, its birth, in the open Bible, the free Gospel then preached. It was truly a life from God sent down from heaven to a dying world, into an apostate church. There was born again the work of Christ of the first centuries, the work of missions, study of the prophecy. There has been progress on God's part all the way.
3. Sea . . . earth.—The message and work are world-wide. By swift ship and speeding land-conveyances will it go. Said Jesus: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel;" "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;7and then shall the end come." Notwithstanding the cloud and discouragement consequent on seeming indifference, union of Church and World, union of Church and State, the rejection of the Word, all the infidelity in the church, war, commercial greed, mad pleasure, God's Gospel has gone steadily forward. The Word has multiplied; it has entered open doors and made open doors. It has by its mighty power changed the face of the world; and to the eye of faith, upon and over all its gloom-clouds shines the glorious bow of promise.
4. A great voice.—One which is heard from afar, one which arouses from apathy and sleep, one which causes fear to the guilty and hope to the faithful. And all this has ever been characteristic of the loyal preaching of God's true Word. It was a great voice which was heard in Pentecostal times; it was a great voice which broke on the darkness when God's light shone into the heart of Luther, Tyndale, and others. It was a great voice which carried the prophetic time message around the world in the days of 1840 to 1844. It has been suggested that the seven thunders which at this time John was forbidden to write would later be revealed in the judgment of the seven last plagues, as thunder is connected with judgment. See chapters 8:5; 11:19; 16:18.
5. Lifted up his right hand and sware.—How we are carried back to Daniel. See chapter 12:7-13. God wishes to make positive and strong His message to His people. Behind the oath is the great Creator, who has all power to meet His promises. "Delay no longer," reads the A.R.V., and many other versions. "Time no longer," reads our Common Version. Either is true. God has delayed His work of judgment, His closing work, again and again. It has seemed to close in the unsealing of the prophetic scroll. "Time shall be no longer," prophetic time, the time periods of Daniel, sealed to the time of the end. Time in the abstract duration can not be meant, because the work of the Gospel herald still goes on. Verse 11. He must prophesy again. Definite prophetic time then came to an end, as God had declared by His servants the prophets. The prophet who pre-eminently declares this is Daniel, in the prophetic time periods of 1260 years, the 1290 years, 1335 years, and 2300 years, the last of which began B.C. 457 and ended A.D. 1844. See the note following.
6. In the days of the voice of the seventh angel.—The time of the second wo ended August 11, 1840, according to our last study. A little period intervened between that wo and the time of the seventh angel. That little period is covered by the word "quickly." Chapter 11:14. The time of the seventh angel begins at the close of the time period of the prophet in 1844. The mystery of God is His Gospel in Jesus Christ. See Rom. 16:25, 26; Gal. 1:11, 12; Eph. 3:3-5; 6:19; Col. 1:25-27; 1 Tim. 3:16. That Gospel was revealed to Israel in the continual service of the sanctuary as set forth in brief in our last issue, and in full in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Hebrews.
PATMOS
That sanctuary service, when performed in faith, was one constant yearly setting forth in type of the mystery of God, the power of God in Christ Jesus to save men, against which Satan has ever made his constant warfare. The closing of each year's work was the cleansing of that sanctuary from all remembrance of sin of all its worshipers. See Leviticus 16. Hence it was a judgment work, and all who did not avail themselves of the provision of that Gospel on that great Day of Atonement were cut off from the people of God. See Lev. 23: 26-32. When that Day of Atonement began, there began the finishing of the mystery of God for that year in the type; and each year in that service typified Christ's work in this dispensation in its entirety. Therefore when the angel declared that "unto 2,300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" (Dan. 8:14), he referred to the time which should mark the closing work of Christ, the last phase of the Gospel message, the judgment of the righteous dead, the cases of all who are remembered in the sanctuary not made with hands. "When he is about to sound" (so read nearly all translations) we understand to mean the climax of his sounding, which will be at the second coming of Christ. Between the time of the closing of the prophetic time period, 1844, and the time when Christ shall come, when the seventh angel's mighty sounding shall be heard (11:15), there is a waiting time when the vision tarries (see Hab. 2:2, 3), indefinite days, days of trial for God's children. Men not understanding the great sanctuary question will set time for Christ to come, will move and adjust the prophetic dates; but the intelligent student of prophecy will know by faith that all he can do is to wait—wait till the Master says, "It is done." The angel stands ready; "the days" are his. But Infinite Mercy waits. The vision tarries still. The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation to some soul. So can we wait God's plan, resting on the mighty oath that it will be finished soon, for the angel is "about to sound." Then God's mystery shall be finished, then "the good tidings" of the prophet will be complete. Wait.
7. Eat the book.—John represents the church; the book, the Gospel. Eating it is to partake of its message, inwardly digest it, make it a part of one's self. So Ezekiel was to do. See Eze. 2:8; 3:3. Jeremiah says (15:16), "Thy words were found, and I did eat them."
8. Sweet . . . bitter.—The Gospel of God has its sweetness in soul experiences. It has its bitterness in the disappointments which cluster around it. So Ezekiel and Jeremiah found in their labor for backslidden Israel. So the Reformers found it. So especially did those who preached the great time message of 1830 to 1844 find it. Very sweet it was when received. The Master was coming. But they did not see all that the message meant. It was obscured by clouds of error. They did not see all that it meant, more than did the early disciples after three years of instruction by Jesus. "We hoped that it was He," they mournfully say, after His crucifixion, "who should redeem Israel." Luke 24:21. Very bitter was their disappointment. Very bitter also was the disappointment for those who looked for Christ to come in 1844. They had heralded to the world that Christ was then coming. They were doomed to disappointment. Their words and work were discredited. Equally both groups of the disciples were mistaken. God permitted the deception in both cases in order to separate the chaff from the wheat. Later the light shone upon that early group. God was with them in greater light. Greater light now shines upon the later group, and God is with them also, and that light will issue in the glory represented by the angel of Rev. 18:1, whose resplendent shining shall lighten the earth. All this is based on the open Word of Jesus Christ.
NOTE.—We have not space here to explain the time of the beginning and ending of the 2300 days. See "Bible Students' Library," No. 128, "Christ Our Advocate;" "Signs of the Times Leaflet," No. 6, "The 2300 Days," for sale at this office and branches. This message of Revelation 10 brings us to the close of that time, 1844. The finishing of the mystery begins "IN the days of the voice of the seventh angel," the years which follow that date, 1844.
9. Prophesy again.—The work of God's people was not finished then. There are other prophecies, other reforms, other trials, other foes. One more seal, the sixth, is to be opened after this, other truths are to be revealed, other triumphs of the Gospel, and then the breaking of the last seal will disclose the ineffable glory of the Desire of All the Ages. Then, rest, progress, blessing, forever.
