and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. 2 And immediately I was in the Spirit and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat in which the pure in heart could see him; Matt. v. 8. But though they could not see Jehovah, yet they could hear his voice, as was the case with Adam and Eve in the garden; Gen. iii. 8. So the revelator heard the voice of the trumpet talking with him. We desire to remark once for all, that we regard the scenes described in this chapter to be purely metaphorical, as much so as the account of the temptation of our first parents, in the garden of Eden, by the serpent. He who should seek to interpret the language literally, would have confusion worse confounded. The design of the revelator seems to have been to represent, that he had a special opportunity of approaching the Holy One, and of learning from him the events "which must be hereafter." The imagery is not real, but imaginative. It is a figurative description of the dwelling-place of the High and Holy One. See 2d, 3d, and 4th verses. Which must be hereafter. - This shows plainly that the prophetic part of the book is about to begin, for which the revelator was specially prepared by the communication with heaven. We were informed in Rev. i. 19, that John was directed to write the things which he had seen, the things which were, and the things which were to be afterward. The latter things are written in those parts of the Apocalypse which we have now approached. 2. Immediately I was in the Spirit. That is, "when the door was opened, and the trumpet voice talked with me, I was immediately in a spiritual frame of mind" -a fit and proper state in which to behold the things which he was to see and describe. TA throne was set in heaven.. - This was the first thing he saw after the on the throne. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight door in heaven was opened. ¶ And one sat on the throne.- He saw not the being, and yet the sight impressed him with the fact that there was a being there. 3. Like a jasper and sardine stone. Beautiful, glorious! Such was the appearance. These precious stones had great lustre. But this was not all that contributed to the brilliance of the scene. A rainbow round about the throne. The description is intended to be of the most gorgeous kind. This description of the throne of God, and of the mysterious Being seated thereon, seems to us to be framed according to the descriptions given by Isaiah and Ezekiel. See the words of the former prophet: “I saw also the Lord' sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke;" Isa. vi. 1—4. This vision appeared to the prophet to be in the temple; for he said that the train of the Holy One "filled the temple." See also Ezekiel chap. i., especially verses 26-28. "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the like unto an emerald. 4 And round about the throne appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake." Now we cannot have a doubt that the revelator found his images in the passages we have here quoted. They were not the creations of wild fancy in him; he found them in the sacred books of the Jews. Compare with the above Ezek. x. 4. Four-and-twenty seats. This is a continuation of the imagery. Fourand-twenty exalted seats, or thrones, are placed around the throne of God. We say thrones, for those who sit on them have crowns upon their heads, as signs that they reign with God. T Four-and-twenty elders. First of all, who were the elders? What kind of an officer were they? The word itself signifies, a man of age, experience, and dignity. We read of the elders often in the Old Testament, as well as in the New. They were the magistrates, heads, or rulers of the people. Even when the children of İsrael were in bondage in Egypt, they seem to have had a kind of government, and there were among them some whom they owned as their teachers and rulers. Moses was directed to confer with them, previously to undertaking the deliverance of the people; Exod. iii. 16-18. These elders were men of experience, wisdom and gravity, and of authority among the people. Afterwards, when it became necessary for Moses to have assistance in governing the people, he was advised to appoint elders for that purpose. "Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four : covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden_with_thee;" Exod. xviii. 21, 22. For the commission given to these men, see Deut. i. 16, 17. This appointment was confirmed by the authority of God; see Numb. xi. 16, 17; and these men ruled in conjunction with Moses; Deut. xxvii. 1: "And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day." With this explanation we shall be able to understand the matter of the four-and-twenty elders in the passage before us. The form of the court of heaven was made with reference to the God-appointed form of government among the Jews. This form was held sacred in the eyes of the Jews; and how natural was it therefore for the revelator, himself a Hebrew, when painting a scene of the presence of God, and the heavenly court, to describe it after the sacred fashion of the Jews. It is true, we read, in one or two instances, of some slight changes in the government; but a body of elders was always clustered around the chief officer, both in secular and holy matters. We read often of the elders in the New Testament as being the leaders of the Jewish people in their opposition to Jesus and his apostles, as well as other matters. This led the Christians to regard the elders as stiff. necked and rebellious men ; but it begat no prejudices in their minds in regard to the office itself. But why was the number twenty-four selected? We read nowhere of that exact num. ber of elders except in the Apoca and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they lypse. There probably existed some with him a thousand years;" xx. reason in the revelator's mind why 6. By analogy, then, the Christian he selected the number twenty-four. priests might be divided into twentyThere are two reasons which may be four courses; and each course havassigned; and they present them- ing one representative in the court selves to our mind with a force so of heaven, would make the twentynearly equal, that it is difficult to four elders. Whether one of these state which has the most power. We reasons, or both of them, operated on will proceed to name them. 1st. There the mind of the revelator; and if only were twelve apostles in the Christian one, which of the two, we must leave church. The Jewish and Christian for the reader to determine. These religion were both divinely appointed elders perform no offices in the drama institutions; and it is possible, there- of the Apocalypse which are inconfore, that the revelator desired to rep-sistent with their characters as represent them both, by their elders, in resentatives of the church, or of the the court of heaven. One elder for holy men of both Jewish and Chriseach of the twelve tribes, and one to tian dispensations. They are princianswer to each of the twelve apostles, pally distinguished by the devout and (who were regarded as the heads of solemn worship which they rendered the tribes of spiritual Israel, Matt. to God and the Lamb; Rev. v. 8; xix. 28,) would make up the number xi. 16; xix. 4. Clothed in white twenty-four. With this view, the raiment. We have already shown court of heaven is composed, under that inhabitants of the heavenly world the Father, of an equal number of are supposed to be clothed in white, representatives from both the Jewish as a sign of purity and of honor. See and Christian institutions. The twelve the notes on Rev. iii. 4, 5, 18. The Jewish tribes are sometimes used redeemed were washed and made spiritually for the Jews converted to white in the blood of the Lamb; i. 5; the Christian religion. See James i. vii. 14. How appropriate it was, 1, and Rev. vii. The other reason to then, for the revelator to clothe his which we have referred, which per- elders in white. ¶ Crowns of gold. — haps induced the revelator to use the The Christians were kings as well as number twenty-four, is this: Under priests; and hence the elders were the reign of David the Jewish priests represented each as having a crown were divided into twenty-four orders, of gold upon his head, which he wore courses, or classes, as will be per- in the presence of the Highest, who ceived by examining Numb. xxiv. thus acknowledged the preeminence. The Christian believers, those who The four-and-twenty seats on which had entered Christ's spiritual king- they sat were (thronoi) thrones; and dom, who had come to Mount Zion, we know of no reason why the word the city of the living God, the heav-was not thus rendered, as in Matt. enly Jerusalem, were reckoned as kings and priests in God's sight. "Ye are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices;" 1 Pet. ii. 5. "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ;" 9. The Christians confessed that they had been made "kings and priests unto God;" Rev. .6; v. 10. "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign xix. 28. A brief review of what has been said on the subject before us, may present it now to the reader's mind in a more definite, clear and single light. In his figurative description, John first puts a throne, with a glorious personage upon it, bright and beautiful to behold. Round about the throne was a rainbow. It was encircled also with four-and-twenty minor thrones, on had on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunder sticks, sea of glass, the ark of the which sat as many elders, clothed in white, having on their heads crowns of gold. No one can suppose this description to be a reality; it is purely imaginative. We think the words of Dr. Doddridge are worthy of great attention: "We are not to imagine that the person sitting on the throne, or the four animals, or the four-and-author says again, "The revelator twenty elders, were real beings existing in nature; though they represented in a figurative manner things that did really exist. And though it is possible that aerial scenes might, by divine or angelic power, have been formed, I think it much more probable that all that passed was purely in the imagination of St. John. This will keep us, in our interpretation, clear of a thousand difficulties, not to say absurdities, which would follow from a contrary supposition : namely, that there is in heaven an animal in the form of a lamb to represent Christ; and that there are such living creatures as are here described, and that God himself appears in a human form, &c. And this observation I make once for all, desiring it may be remembered, and applied as occasions present." (See his Expos. on the place.) Such was Doddridge's opinion, and we have no doubt of its correctness. The great truths of prophecy made known to John were doubtless divine communications to him; but the imagery is to be understood as imagery merely. We have already shown what suggested these metaphors to the mind of the revelator. He, doubtless, obtained them from the Old Testament. It is a common metaphor of the Old Testament writers to represent God as sitting on a throne, all glorious in appearance. The scene of John's vision, says Lightfoot, "is according to the scheme of the temple, and the divine glory there. And hence you have mention of the altar, candle seeth Christ enthroned in the middle of his church, in the same prophetic and visionary emblem that Ezekiel had seen; Ezek. i. and x.; and this is a commentary and fulfilling of that scene that Daniel speaketh of; vii. 9, 10, 22. In Ezekiel the Lord, when Jerusalem was to be destroyed, and the glory of the Lord that used to be there, and the people, were to flit into another land, appeareth so enthroned as sitting in judgment and flitting away by degrees to another place, as compare Ezek. i. and x. well together. So Christ here, when the destruction of Jerusalem was near at hand, and his glory and presence [were about] to remove from that nation, now given up to unbelief and obduration, to reside among the Gentiles, he is seated upon his throne, as judge and king, with glorious attendance, to judge that nation for their sins and unbelief, and stating the affair of his church, whither his glory was now removing."— (Harmony of the New Testament.) We explain the figures in this chapter on the same principle on which we explain similar imagery in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew. The appearance of God's dwelling-place is drawn from that of the camp of Israel. 1. The tabernacle was in the middle there; so is the throne here. 2. There, the four squadrons of the camp of Levi next the tabernacle; so here, the four living creatures. There, the whole camp of Israel; so here, twenty-four elders, representatives of the whole church, built from 3. ings, and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto "As twelve tribes and twelve apostles; or God; that is, they represented the reference may be made to the twenty-seven spirits of God. This descripfour courses of priests. tion is taken from Ezek. i. 13. for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the went forth lightning." We have shown under former passages what is meant by the seven spirits of God. Earthly monarchs, who maintained the most magnificence, had seven spirits, or confidential ministers, dwelling near their persons. They were the means of access which the subjects had, in the most of cases, with their sovereign. They, therefore, were called his spirits; and because they were watchful to see all that was done and report to their master, they were sometimes repre 5. And out of the throne. - This description is given to correspond with the ancient notions of the Jews in regard to the signs that attended the presence of Jehovah. The scene is drawn as if there were some pow-fire was bright, and out of the fire erful being present, invisible to the outward eye, but who made his presence known by the lightnings, thunderings and voices. Whether there was anything in the temple service answering to this, we would not say with certainty; we feel more confidence that the revelator drew the metaphor from the account given by Moses of the presence of God upon the mount. "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceed-sented, as in Rev. v. 6, by seven eyes ing loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice; Exod. xix. 16-19. This shows that the ancient Jews did not describe God as a being they could see; but his presence was denoted in the manner here pointed out. ¶ Seven lamps of fire. These answered to the golden candlestick with seven lamps, which was before the most holy place in the tabernacle. The seven lamps of fire (i. e. lighted or burning lamps) are said to be the seven spirits of seven going out into all the earth, meaning thereby, far-seeing eyes. See Ezra vii. 4; Esther i. 10, 14; Jer. iii. 25; 1 Esdras viii. 11; Tobit xii. 15. See particularly our notes on. Rev. i. 4 and iii. 1. The seven spirits of God were represented by seven lamps, as the seven stars (like lamps) represented the angels of the churches, and the seven candlesticks represented the seven churches themselves; Rev. i. 20. Having described the throne and Him that sat on it, so far as appearances were made to mortal eyes, and also the court of heaven, the revelator proceeds, in the next place, to show what was in front of the throne. 6. A sea of glass like unto crystal. - This was before the throne. Observe, it is, not a sea of water, but a sea of glass, clear, beautiful, like unto crystal. It was a plain, level, beautiful surface, not liquid, but called a sea, because it was so |