Thoughts on the Revelation.
Verses 1, 2. 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. But the court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. We here have a continuation of the instruction which the angel commenced giving to John in the preceding chapter; hence these verses properly belong to that chapter, and should not be separated by the present division. In the last verse of chap. x, the angel gave to John, as a representative of the church, a new commission. In other words, as shown last week, we have in that verse a prophecy of the third angel's message. Now follows testimony showing what the nature of that message is to be. It is connected with the temple of God in heaven, and is designed to fit up a class of people as worshipers therein. The temple here cannot mean the church; for the church is brought to view in connection with this temple as "them that worship therein." The temple is therefore the literal temple in heaven, and the worshipers the true church on earth. But these worshipers are not of course to be measured in the sense of ascertaining the hight and circumference of each one in feet and inches; they are to be measured as worshipers; hence the measurement has to do with character; and character can be measured only by some standard of right, namely, a law or rule of action. We are thus brought to the conclusion that the ten commandments, the standard which God has given by which to measure "the whole duty of man," are embraced in the measuring rod put by the angel into the hands of John; and this is the very thing which, in fulfillment of this, has been put, under the third message, into the hands of the church. This is the standard by which the worshipers of God are now to be tested. Having seen what it is to measure those who worship at the temple, another inquiry arises, namely, What is meant by measuring the temple? To measure any object here, requires that we give especial attention to that object. So doubtless the call to rise and measure the temple of God, is a prophetic command to the church to give the subject of the temple or sanctuary a special examination. But how is it to be measured with the measuring rod given to the church? With the ten commandments alone we could not do it. We do do it with the message. Hence we conclude that the measuring rod is the special message now given to the church, which embraces all the truths peculiar to this time, including the ten commandments. By this message our attention has been called to the temple above, and through it the light and truth on this subject has come out. Thus we measure the temple and the altar, or the ministration connected with that temple, the work and position of our great High Priest; and we measure the worshipers with that portion of the rod which relates to character, namely, the ten commandments. "But the court which is without the temple, leave out." As much as to say, The attention of the church is now directed to the inner temple, and the service there. Matters pertaining to the court are of less consequence now. It is given to the Gentiles. Having thus introduced the Gentiles, the attention of the prophet is directed to the great feature of Gentile apostasy, namely, the treading down of the holy city forty and two months, during the period of papal supremacy. He is then directed to the condition of the word of God, the truth and the church during that time. Thus by an easy and natural transition, we are carried back into the past, and our attention called to a new series of events. Verse 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth. These days are the same as the forty-two months of the preceding verse, and refer to the period of papal triumph. During this time the witnesses are in a state of sackcloth, or obscurity, and God gives them power to endure and maintain their testimony through that dark and dismal period. But who or what are these witnesses? Verse 4. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." Evident allusion is here made to Zech. iv, 3-6, where it is explained that the two olive trees are taken to represent the word of God; and David testifies, "The entrance of thy words giveth light," and, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Written testimony is stronger than oral. Jesus declares of the Old-Testament scriptures, "They are they which testify of me." In this dispensation he says that his works bear witness of him. By what means do they bear witness of him? Ever since those disciples of his who were personally associated with him while on earth, passed off the stage of life, his works have borne witness of him only through the medium of the New Testament, where alone we find them recorded. This gospel of the kingdom, it was once declared, shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, &c. These declarations and considerations are sufficient to sustain the conclusion that the Old and New Testaments, one given in one dispensation, and the other in the other, are Christ's two witnesses. Verse 5. 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. To hurt the word of God is to oppose, corrupt, or pervert its testimony, and turn people away from it. Against those who do this work, fire proceedeth out of their mouth to devour them; that is, judgment of fire is denounced in that word against such. It declares that they will have their portion at last in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Mal. iv, 1; Rev. xx, 15; xxii, 18, 19, &c. Verse 6. 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. In what sense have these witnesses power to shut heaven, turn waters to blood, and bring plagues on the earth? Elijah shut heaven that it rained not for three years and a half; but he did it by the word of the Lord. Moses by the word of the Lord turned the waters of Egypt to blood. And just as these judgments, recorded in their testimony, have been fulfilled, so will every threatening and judgment denounced by them against any people, surely be accomplished. "As often as they will:" as often as judgments are recorded on their pages to transpire, so often they will come to pass. An instance of this the world is yet to experience in the infliction of the seven last plagues. Verses 7, 8. 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. When they shall have finished their testimony, in their sackcloth state—at about the expiration of the 1260 years—the beast makes war upon them. The following historical facts fulfill this scripture: Between the years 1793 and 1798 the word of God was suppressed by national authority in infidel France. The Bible was made a dead letter by that power which was guilty of all the sins of Sodom and Egypt, and also of spiritually crucifying the Lord of glory. Verses 9, 10. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. The nations adjacent to France behold the deistical work that was carried on in that country during the revolution, but would not join with it in the crusade against the Bible; hence it was not suffered to be put into the grave; that is, was not wholly extirpated from the earth. The merriment and congratulatory gifts among the French people at that time when they thought they had abolished Christianity, is expressed in verse 10. Verses 11, 12. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. Fulfillment. In just three years from the time the decree was passed suppressing the Bible, a resolution was offered in the national assembly for its restoration. That resolution lay upon the table just six months, when it was taken up and passed without a dissenting voice. France had become tired of the horrid state of anarchy and blood, in which no God, no Bible, and no Christianity were recognized, and with her own hands, after three years and a half (three and a half prophetic days), raised up the dead bodies of the witnesses, and set them upon their feet. About this time was commenced the formation of Bible societies; and the Bible, in fulfillment of verse 12, has since then enjoyed a state of exaltation never before attained. Verse 13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand; and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. Earthquake: revolution. A tenth part of the city fell: France, a tenth division of the great papal city. And there were slain of men seven thousand; margin, names of men; titles of aristocracy and nobility. "Down with the aristocrats!" was the cry of the Republican mob, as they leveled to the ground all titles of distinction. About seven thousand of these titles were abolished in that movement. Verse 14. The second woe is past; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. The series of seven trumpets is here again resumed. The second woe ended with the sixth trumpet, Aug. 11, 1840; and the third woe occurs under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which commenced in 1848; and "quickly" is the adverb that is used to warn us of its coming. Verses 15-17. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. From the 15th verse to the end of the chapter we seem to be carried over the ground from the sounding of the seventh angel to the end, three distinct times. Once in the verses last quoted. Here we are taken down from the commencement of the trumpet to the full establishment of the kingdom of God. In the next verse the prophet goes back and takes up other features of the scene as follows: Verse 18. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. "The nations were angry:" Commencing with the wonderful revolution in Europe in 1848; and from that outburst of passion among the nations, their anger has been ably increasing ever since. Almost every paper of to-day shows the fearful degree to which it is now excited. "And thy wrath is come:" the wrath of God for the present generation, is filled up in the seven last plagues, chap. xv, 1, which consequently must here be referred to, and which are soon to be poured out upon the earth. "And the time of the dead that they should be judged." The great mass of the dead, the wicked dead, are still in their graves after the visitation of the plagues, and the close of this dispensation. A work of judgment—of allotting to each one the punishment due—is carried on in reference to them by the saints in conjunction with Christ, during the one thousand173years following the first resurrection. 1 Cor. vi, 2; Rev. xx, 4. It seems most natural to conclude that these are the ones, and this the time to which this scripture applies. "And that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets:" Full reward will be given the saints when they enter upon the possession of the new earth, but not before. "And shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth:" Referring to the time when all the wicked will be forever devoured by those purifying fires which come down from God out of heaven upon them, and which melt and renovate the earth. 2 Pet. iii, 7; Rev. xx, 9. By this we learn that the seventh trumpet reaches over to the end of the one thousand years. Momentous, startling, but yet joyous thought: that the trumpet is now sounding which is to see the final destruction of the wicked, and behold the saints clothed in a glorious immortality, safely instated on the earth made new. Once more the prophet carries us back to the commencement of the trumpet, in the following language: Verse 19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Having introduced the seventh trumpet, the first great event that strikes the mind of the seer, is the transfer of the kingdom from earthly to heavenly rule. God takes to him his great power, and forever crushes the rebellion of this revolted earth, a work seemingly delayed, establishes Christ upon his appropriate throne, and remains himself supreme over all. This picture being completed, we are pointed back to the state of the nations, the judgments to fall upon them, and the final destiny of both saints and sinners. This field of vision being scanned, we are taken back once more, and our attention called to the close of the ministration of Christ, the last scene in the work of mercy for a guilty world. The temple is opened: the second apartment of the sanctuary is entered. We know it is the holy of holies that is here opened; for the ark is seen, and in that apartment alone the ark was deposited. This took place at the end of the 2300 days, when the sanctuary was to be cleansed, the time when the prophetic periods expired, and the seventh angel commenced to sound. Since then the people of God have seen by faith the open door in heaven, and the ark of God's testament there. They are endeavoring to keep every precept of the holy law written upon the tables therein deposited. They have received the reed, and are measuring the temple, the altar, and them that worship therein. They are uttering their last prophecy, before nations, peoples, and tongues. And the drama will soon close with lightnings, thunderings, voices, an earthquake, and great hail.