earth, was able to open the book, | open, and to read the book, neither to look thereon. neither to look thereon. 21. some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever;" Dan. xii. 1-3. This certainly had respect to the destruction of Jerusalem; for so our Lord himself applied the prophecy, Matt. xxiv. The judgment mentioned by Daniel was the judgment which took place at that time; John v. 22-29. Compare carefully all the texts here named. The book which Daniel sealed being about to be opened, shows that the events foretold by that prophet are those which are described by the revelator in the second section of the Apocalypse, and that they referred to the destruction of Jerusalem. For the opening of the seven seals, see chapters vi. vii. and viii. 5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the been a matter of very great sorrow to all good Christians if the sealed vision of Daniel had not been opened to their understandings, so the revelator represents himself as weeping when no man dare come forward at the challenge of the angel. We think this is all that the imagery of these three verses is designed to convey. 5. One of the elders.· That is, one of the four-and-twenty elders mentioned in the preceding chapter. This is introduced merely to fill up the imagery, and to prepare the reader for what is to come. The lion. The lion is the king of beasts. It is a remarkable fact that both Jesus and the adversary are compared to the lion. Compare 1 Peter v. 8 with the passage before us. The reason is, that the lion is the king of beasts, -an animal of great power. The lion, when he stands for the adversary, is enraged, -a roaring, furious lion. 3. Heaven, earth, neither under the earth. - The meaning here is simply this: no man was there in the uni-¶ Of the tribe of Juda. - Judah was verse who could break the seven seals of the book. Heaven, earth and under the earth, is a periphrasis for the universe. See remarks on Rev. v. 13. No man could disclose the meaning of the sealed roll of Daniel; it was not in the power of human reason or philosophy to foretell events yet future. Daniel's prophecy had respect to events that were far future when he wrote; they were also future, but were near at hand, when the revelator wrote Who should foretell them? Who should be able to show with certainty the matters to which Daniel referred, and trace them out in their several particulars? No mere man could do it. The angel challenged; and no man could answer. 4. Iwept much. elator wept much. This is in keeping with the general character of this part of the vision. As it would have one of the sons of Jacob; Gen. xxix. 35. He it was who saved the life of Joseph; who suggested to his brethren intent on his death, the selling of him to the Ishmaelites; Gen. xxxvii. 20-22 and 26-27. He was always regarded as the most powerful of all Jacob's sons. When the dying patriarch called his children around him to tell them what should befall them in the latter days, he said, "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before theeJudah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse That is, the rev-him up?" Gen. xlix. 8, 9. The twelve tribes into which the Jews were divided were named after Jacob's twelve sons. These twelve Lion of the tribe of Juda, the to open the book, and to loose Root of David, hath prevailed the seven seals thereof. this manner, had it not been foreseen tribes continued united as one state, one people, and one monarchy, till after the death of Solomon, when ten of the tribes revolted from the house of David, and formed the kingdom of Israel. Judah's tribe was the most powerful and numerous. He gave his name ultimately to all the descendants of his father, — Judæi, or Jews, and to the promised land they had inherited, Judea. In consequence of the superiority of Judah and his tribe, some striking emblem was necessary for their banner; and from the words of his dying parent, choice was made of the lion. Judah continued a distinct tribe until the Messiah came; Gen. xlix. 10. From these facts will easily be gathered the reason why Jesus was compared to the lion of the tribe of Judah. He near-approaching calamities of the sprung from that tribe; Heb. vii. 14. That was the most powerful tribe, and existed until his birth. It was to give an idea of the Redeemer's power that he was compared to the lion, the king of beasts; and as the lion was the distinguishing emblem of the tribe of Judah, and as our Lord belonged to that tribe, he was called "the lion of the tribe of Judah." ¶Root of David. - Jesus is called in another place, the root and offspring of David;" Rev. xxii. 16. It will be time enough to consider the apparent confusion of figures in that phraseology, when we come to the place. Jesus is called "the root of Jesse," David's Father; Isa. xi. 10; comp. Rom. xv. 12; and for the same reason, "the root of David." The family of David sprang from Judah; and David was king of that tribe. The greatest fact in its history was the fact that our Lord sprang from it; and perhaps it was in reference to this event, in part, that God directed the minds of the people to take the lion, the emblem of majesty and strength, as their emblem. They would probably not have been distinguished in Jews. Jesus was a prophet, as well 6. In the midst of the throne, &c. 6 And I beheld, and lo, in | midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the The meaning here seems to be as follows: I saw, between the throne and the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders who were seated round about the throne. This would bring the Lamb the nearest to the throne of any, except him who sat upon it. Jesus shares the honor of heaven with the Father. He is exalted far above principalities and powers, at the right hand of the majesty on high. The throne is therefore called "the throne of God and the Lamb;" Rev. xxii. 1. ¶ A Lamb. - This is the emblem which the revelator delighted to apply to the Lord Jesus. It is a figure borrowed from the sacrifices of the Jews. The lamb was used in sacrifice; and being the most harmless and innocent of animals, and Jesus being a sin-offering for the whole world, he is called "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world;" John i. 29, 36. Such was the origin of the figure. Isaiah represents Jesus under that emblem; liii. 7; and this matter came up for consideration between Philip and the Ethiopian; Acts viii. 32. With the exception of the instances referred to, and an additional one in Peter, no other New Testament writer mentions Christ under the figure of a Lamb, except John. And it is difficult for us to resist the conviction that Peter quoted his language from the Apocalypse; compare 1 Pet. i. 19, 20, with Rev. xiii. 8. If this supposition be correct, the date of the Apocalypse was much earlier than critics generally have placed it, For instances in which John in his Gospel speaks of Christ as a Lamb, see ch. i. 29, 36. For the occurrence of the metaphor in the Apocalypse, see v. 6, 8, 12, 13; vi. 1, 16; vii. 9, 10, 14, 17; xii. 11; xiii. 8; xiv. 1, 4, 10; xv. 3; xvii. 14; xix. 7, 9; xxi. 9, 14, 22, 23, 27; xxii. 1. T Slain. The revelator says, this Lamb had the appearance of having been slain. This is an evident reference to the crucifixion of Jesus, and it serves to fix the application more directly upon him. 66 А Lamb as it had been slain" was an expressive emblem of "Jesus and him crucified." What marks there were about the Lamb to denote that he had been offered in sacrifice, we shall not undertake to conjecture. There could arise no possible benefit from it. Without it we get the great fact intended to be conveyed, viz., that the Lamb which appeared before the throne was one which had been manifestly offered in sacrifice; and was, therefore, a very fit emblem of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the altar of sacrifice for the sins of all men. Having seven horns. — The horn is a sign of power. All animals which have horns find their power in them. They are their means of defence. The horn was a very common metaphor among the ancients. The Lord exalted the horn of David, and the horn of his people; he breaketh the horn of the ungodly; he cutteth off the horn of Moab; he cutteth off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel. Being about to represent Jesus under the figure of a Lamb, and wishing also to ascribe great power to him, no metaphor that could be conceived of would have been more agreeable to the prevalent manner of writing at the time, than to invest the Lamb with horns; and as seven was a number denoting completeness and perfection, seven horns conveyed the idea of perfect power. Seven eyes.· Here is the same number of eyes as of horns; and the seven eyes, we are told, are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. It is remarkable how a slight circumstance will sometimes make an apparently difficult which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. 8 And when he had taken matter very plain. How did the was not intended. But worship was prophet Zechariah represent the all-intended in this place; for there are pervading vision of God? Ans. By "seven eyes;" ch. iii. 9. And in the next chapter he said, "they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth;" iv. 10. Here, evidently, the revelator found his metaphor; and there is another metaphor in this section of Zechariah's prophecy, of which we shall see, in another place, that the revelator made great use. By the seven eyes of the Lamb, sent forth, as the angels of God, unto all the earth, was signified his all-pervading vision. 7. And he [the Lamb] came and took the book. Did the Lamb take the book? inquires Prof. Stuart; or was the head only a lamb, and the rest a human figure? Thus he goes on with his questions. It seems to us that the true explanation is, that the revelator passes easily from the metaphor to the being signified by it. The Lamb, i. e., he who was signified by the Lamb, took the book. ¶ Out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. - That is, he derived all his knowledge from the Father. The latter is represented as having the roll in possession, and as giving it into the hands of Jesus Christ, who is mentioned under the figure of the Lamb. The events that were revealed by the opening of the seals, one after another, must be looked for in the succeeding chapters. The remainder of this chapter is occupied with a description of the worship rendered to the Lamb, in consequence of his proceeding to open the book, and also to the Father. 8. Fell down before the Lamb. - The living creatures, and the four-andtwenty elders, fell down before the Lamb. This was the common form of respect. It was often done when worship, especially divine worship, all the accompaniments of worship. The worshippers all have harps in their hands, and golden vials full of odors. Some think it wrong to worship Christ. They believe that God alone ought to be worshipped. Christ they declare is a creature, and divine honors ought not to be paid to him. To this we do not agree. We allow that God alone ought to be worshipped as God; and the living creatures and the elders, as we shall see, did not worship the Lamb as God the Father. It is true that Christ is a creature; but he is also something else. He is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ;" and this can be said of no other being in heaven or on earth. If by divine honors be meant the honors due to God alone, we allow that such honors ought not to be paid to Christ; but if by divine honors be merely meant honors paid to a divine person, then Jesus is entitled to divine honors. We cannot possibly, in any way, understand the chapter which we are now examining, if Jesus may not rightfully be worshipped. But more on this subject as we proceed. ¶ Having every one of them harps. This certainly is figurative, for it cannot be supposed there could be harps in the celestial, spiritual, immortal state. The harp was an instrument that had been long known to the Jews, and was much used in their temple service; see 1 Chron. xiii. 8; xv. 16; 2 Chron. v. 12; Neh. xii. 27; Psa. xxxiii. 2. John's vision of heaven seems to be drawn almost wholly from the arrangements for the religious services of the Jews; and the worship in heaven is made to bear a strong resemblance to that of the temple. For further remarks on the mention made of the harp in the Scriptures, the book, the four beasts, and [ vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden see notes on Rev. xiv. 2. ¶ Vials full of odors. In the temple services, incense was wafted unto the throne of God. The incense was mingled with rich odors. It was a representation of the prayers of the saints. While the priest offered incense within, the people prayed without; and the priest, by the incense, sent up the prayers of the people. See Luke i. 10: "And the whole multitude of the people were praying without, at the time of incense." This agrees with Psa. cxli. 2: "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice." Did not the revelator get his figure from this verse? ¶ Which are the prayers of saints. He evidently set forth the prayers of the saints as incense. That these saints were on earth, not in the immortal state, is evident from verse 10, below. Dr. Hammond says, "It is evident that the saints here are the Christian people upon earth, and not the saints which reign in heaven. And this also is agreeable to the notion of odors, by which their prayers are expressed. For those refer to the incense which the priests were wont to offer in the sanctuary whilst the people prayed without, (Luke i. 10,) and their prayers were supposed to go up with that incense to heaven. By this it also appears that the four living creatures, and four and twenty elders which have here the vials in their hands, as also the harps, the one to denote the prayers, the other the praises of the Christians, are the apostles and bishops of Judea, (as in the laying of the scene appeared, ch. iv.,) whose office it was to present the prayers and praises of the Christians to God; and so by all these together, the Christian persecuted church of Judea (and by consent with them all 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take other Christians over the world) are represented here, as those that had now their prayers heard, and those by the destruction of their persecutors turned into praises." See Com. on ver. 8. 9. And they sung.. Who sung? Ans. The four living creatures, and the four and twenty elders, mentioned in the preceding verse as falling down before the Lamb. ¶ New song. And this new song is in the following words: "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain," &c. This was called a new song, as if it never had been sung before; for who could sing the song of redeeming love, until the Lamb was slain? No such song was ever sung in the religious services of the Jews; they sung the praises of God; but never sung of the redemption of the world through Christ. The song of redeeming love, the song of redemption from sin and error, and the moral exaltation of men through Jesus Christ, — that is the new song. None can sing this song except such as have been redeemed by Christ; and it shall be sung at last by all, when every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father; Phil. ii. 9-11. Rev. xiv. 3: "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." The new song, therefore, must be the song of redeeming love; which all will sing, when the work of redemption is complete. Is it not certain, then, that the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders stand, in this case, as representatives of the redeemed? ¶ Thou art worthy. — It is a song of praise to the |