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therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are

be time no longer. - That is, that there should be time no longer before the judgment transpired which had been described; or, in other words, that there should be no more delay; for chronos signifies sometimes delay. Donnegan says, Chronos signifies "time, duration, frequently a long time, also delay." "Chronon empoicin, to cause delay." Hence the words may signify there shall be DELAY no longer. The sentence is, Oti chronos ouk estai eti, literally, "that time not shall be further," or there shall be no further time. The end had come; the end of the age, the last days, the passing away of the old heaven and earth. These things had come; there should be no further delay. Adam Clarke is correct on this passage. After quoting the

words, "That there should be time no longer," he adds, "That the great counsels relative to the events already predicted should be immediately fulfilled; and that there should be no longer delay. This has no reference (he adds) to the day of judgment." Again he adds, "The word chronos, in the above place, seems to signify delay simply; and probably refers to the long-suffering of God being ended in reference to Jerusalem; for I all along take for probable, that this book was written previously to the destruction of that city." -(Note at the end of the 10th chapter.) Lightfoot says, "He sware by him that liveth forever, that there should be delay of time no longer." And he adds, "At last Christ swears that there shall be no more delay; the word chronos must be taken so here."

(Harmony of New Testament.) Wakefield translates the words, "that there should be no longer delay." There is a valuable note in Hammond, which we will not take up room to quote here, the facts we have given being deemed amply sufficient.

therein, that there should be time no longer:

7 But in the days of the voice

The truth, then, to which the mighty angel [the Lord Jesus] swore was, that the time had come for the first covenant to pass away, and for the city of Jerusalem and the nation of the Jews to fall. "Jerusalem was compassed with armies," Luke xxi. 20, as was shown in the notes on the 9th chapter; every preparation was made; the people would not repent; and the Son of God, in whom dwelt "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," made solemn declaration, that "there should be no more delay," or "that no more time should elapse before the holy city should "be trodden under foot of the Gentiles." The sense which we have given to this verse will be rendered more apparent by what is said on the following

verse.

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7. In the days of the voice of the seventh angel. This is offered in explanation of the great fact stated in the preceding verse, that time should be no more, or that no more time should elapse previously to the consummation to which the revelator was hastening in his description. In proof that no more time should elapse, the revelator adds, that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel (whose sounding is described in the following chapter) the mystery of God should be finished. The end was near. The revelator had already shown "Jerusalem compassed with armies;" ch. ix. That point and the finishing of the mystery of God were almost simultaneous; hence, as the mystery of God was about to be finished, there could be "time no longer."

The mystery of God should be finished. What was this "mystery of God?" See the verse already referred to, viz., xi. 15: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, [i. e., most important truths were announced, to wit,] saying, The kingdoms of this

1

of the seventh angel, when he | from heaven spake unto me shall begin to sound, the mys-again, and said, Go, and take tery of God should be finished, the little book which is open in as he hath declared to his ser- the hand of the angel which vants the prophets. standeth upon the sea, and upon

8 And the voice which I heard the earth.

world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." This, then, was the mystery of God, viz., the final prevalence of the gospel and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ over all the kingdoms of the earth. This was the reign of God, and the opening of his SPIRITUAL TEMPLE, after the outward temple upon Mount Zion had been levelled with the dust; xi. 19. Now that this very consummation is throughout the Bible styled the mystery of God, will be apparent to every one who will make the examination. It is styled a mystery not because it is unintelligible and incomprehensible, but because it had not before been fully known. See the very important remarks of Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, under the word muserion, or mystery. This mystery of God is spoken of by Paul, in Rom. xi. 25, 26, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this MYSTERY, (leзt ye should be wise in your own conceits,) that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

Here we have the great fact of the kingdoms of the world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, asserted by Paul, and declared by him to be the mystery of God. See also the language of Paul in Eph. iii. 3-9. "By revelation he made known unto me the mystery, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the spirit." And what does St. Paul assure the Ephe

sians this mystery was? See the passage already pointed out, and it will appear that the mystery was, "That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." Hence Paul "preached among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," and labored "to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." There is no dispute, then, that the mystery of God was the conversion of the Jews and Gentiles; the breaking down of the middle wall of partition, which was done most effectually when the first covenant, the peculiar distinction of the Jews, passed away, and the kingdom of God came with power. ¶ Declared to his servants the prophets. — This mystery of God has been the subject matter of all the prophets. St. Paul, in referring to the mystery, shows that he quoted from one of the prophets. "Âs it is written, [i. e., in Isaiah lix. 20,] there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer," &c. was to be fully disclosed; and the great purpose of God to make Jews and Gentiles as one, in respect to divine things, was to commence to go into effect. The gospel was to be set up, in its most enlarged operation; and in this way the kingdoms of this world were to become the kingdoms of Christ, who was to gain the victory over the potentates of the earth.

The mystery

8. And the voice which I heard, viz., the voice mentioned in verse 4. This voice spake again to the revelator, and directed him to go and take the little book out of the hand of the

9 And I went unto the angel, | but it shall be in thy mouth and said unto him, Give me the sweet as honey. little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter,

angel, who had heaven and earth under his feet.

10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth effect that might have been expected from a right understanding of the 9. Eat it up. -The figure of eat- events that were to occur at the time ing the roll, or book, seems to be of the destruction of the Jewish state. taken from Ezekiel. See ii. 8-10:¶ My belly was bitter. - Take the "But thou, son of man, hear what I facts, and they show the propriety of say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious this description. To the Christians, like that rebellious house: open thy the coming of the kingdom of God mouth, and eat that I give thee. And with power, and the consequent dewhen I looked, behold, a hand was struction of Jerusalem, were very sent unto me; and lo, a roll of a book desirable events, in one view of the was therein; and he spread it before case. The Christians, when those me and it was written within and events transpired, were promised dewithout and there was written there-liverance from their enemies. : All in lamentations, and mourning, and afflicted and cast down as they had woe." Here, we perceive, that eating the book signified being made fully acquainted with the contents thereof. "He spread it before me." It is a common metaphor of our times, to say of the reader who is zealously intent on reading a work, that he eats or devours it. Jeremiah says, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;" xv. 16. Make thy belly bitter. The book was said to be in the belly bitter, but in the mouth sweet as honey. The figure is evidently drawn from Ezek. iii. 3: "And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness." This agrees in part with the revelator's description of the little book. In thy mouth sweet as honey. See under next verse.

10. In my mouth sweet as honey. What is intended by the figure it is not difficult to see. The revelator took the book out of the angel's hand, and found it to contain in part words of great consolation, and in part things that gave him great concern and sorrow. Such was precisely the

been, they had seen days of great
affliction. Would not the news of
their deliverance then be sweet? But
no sooner had they read this in the
counsels of God, than they came to
a frightful counterpart to their own
joys, we mean the terrible suffer-
ings of their enemies.
No tongue
can describe the miseries that the
Jews brought upon themselves.
Every benevolent heart must have
been filled with bitter sorrow that
contemplated them. The book there-
fore was sweet in the mouth,
at the first contemplation; but bitter
as more fully known and considered.

sweet

The

11. Thou must prophesy again.. "Thou must prophesy AGAIN," as if a new series of prophecy were about to commence. The revelator was evidently drawing towards the end of his first series of annunciations. events which we have noticed show that some important crisis, or closing up of events, was at hand; (and what that crisis was will be seen in the next chapter, where we have an account of the fall of the city and the temple, and the opening of the new spiritual temple of the gospel, the judging of the dead, small and great, &c., &c.) The eleventh chapter is a

sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me,

very important one, and closes the second great section of the Apocalypse, the first extending from the beginning of the book to the end of the third chapter, and containing the addresses to the seven churches; the second commencing at the beginning of the fourth chapter and extending to the end of the eleventh, and containing a description of the tumults, trials, wars, suffering and destruction of the Jews, in the order observed by our Lord, in his celebrated prophecy, recorded in the 24th chapter of Matthew. We have a description in the tenth chapter of the great events which foreshow the end of the Jewish state. The mighty angel descends "in the clouds of heaven;" he has dominion upon the land and upon the sea; he swares that there shall be no more delay; and that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, (who was about to sound, melle salpizein,) the mystery of God should be finished, as spoken by the prophets. To our mind this clearly refers to the closing up of the Jewish dispensation, and the solemn circumstances by which that event was distinguished. The seventh trumpet was to follow the sixth quickly; see xi. 14; and when the seventh angel sounded, then the gospel should prevail over Judaism; the kingdoms of the world should become the kingdoms of Christ; the dead small and great should be judged; the old temple on Zion should be levelled with the dust; and thereafter neither on Zion nor Gerizim should people worship God, but everywhere, in his spiritual temple, (xi. 19,) should their prayers and praises be heard. So the Son of God foretold: "The hour cometh [is about to come] when ye shall neither in this mountain, [Gerizim,] nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father; but the true worshippers shall worship the Father

Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

in spirit and in truth;" John iv. 21, 22; i. e., in the kingdom of heaven, under the new covenant, the spiritual Jerusalem, or heavenly temple. ¶ Before many peoples and nations, &c.

At the end of the eleventh chapter, the prophecy, so far as it respects the destruction of Jerusalem, will close; but the revelation to St. John will not close. All that was revealed to him he had not disclosed. He was to begin another series of prophecy, of a more general nature. The former had been confined principally to the Jews; the latter was to embrace many other nations in its compass. "Thou must prophesy again, before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings," referring doubtless to the Roman empire, composed of many nations and tongues, prefigured, in chap. xii., by the beast with seven heads and ten horns. There is no difficulty in explaining this figure of the beast. "The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman [Rome] sitteth;" Rev. xvii. 9; "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings;" xvii. 12; and "the waters which thou sawest [for the beast rose up out of the sea, xiii. 1] are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," xvii. 15, which are the same to whom it is said the revelator should prophesy, viz., "before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings:" x. 11.

If commentators had been willing, in explaining the book of Revelation, to let one part elucidate another, and to bring the prophets to their aid, instead of forcing in their own visions and schemes, that book would never have been regarded as so mysterious a book as it has been thought to be. It is not unexplainable, if we will permit the sacred writers to be their own interpreters.

One thing more, and we close.

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The events recorded in the 12th chapter and onwards, are not necessarily posterior, in point of time, to those events referred to in the preceding chapters. Some may think, not understanding the plan of the book, that because they are described in succeeding chapters, therefore they must succeed regularly in the order of time. But it may appear, on examination, that the revelator goes back, when he begins his new prophecy, to the rise of Christianity in connection with the Roman empire, as he had taken it up in previous chapters in connection with the Jewish nation. But we shall see.

CHAPTER XI.

We saw, in the preceding chapter, that the revelator had come, in his description, to the destruction of Jerusalem. The mighty angel had descended from heaven, and with one foot on the land and the other on the sea, had sworn that the end had come, (i. e., the end of the Jewish world or age;) that there should no more time elapse before that event, or, in other words, that there should be no more delay. All this we think was accompanied by a strength of evidence, which cannot be resisted. With the expectation, then, of finding a description of the fall of Judaism, and the triumph of Christianity, let us enter upon the examination of the chapter.

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1. Reed like unto a rod. This was for the purpose of measurement, -a reed, or staff, like a measuring rod. The description is taken from Ezekiel: "And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate;" xl. 3. ¶ Rise,

the angel stood, saying, Rise,. and measure the temple of God. and the altar, and them that worship therein.

and measure the temple of God. — Thus, it will be seen, the temple was yet standing. And as, in laying the plan of a city, the place is measured and marked off, so here, as Jerusalem is about to be destroyed, it is measured and marked off for destruction. The laying out of the city forms a very prominent subject in the prophecy of Ezekiel; see chapters xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xliv., &c. In taking a momentary retrospection of the history of that city, this matter came up to the revelator's mind. He employs the figure, therefore, in marking out the city for destruction; and it will also be seen that he uses the same metaphor, in describing the holy city, new Jerusalem, which came down from God out of heaven; xxi. 15-21. A command to measure shows that he who gives the command has the right to repair, or to throw down. Hence, when God, in the metaphorical language of the Jews, is said to be about to destroy the earth, he in the first place measures it. "Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow;" Hab. iii. 5, 6. And the altar. So Ezekiel measured; xliii. 13. We see, then, that, in the style of the sacred writers, to measure a city signifies simply to mark it out, for any purpose whatsoever. And we shall have occasion to show, on Rev. xxi. 15-21, that even the conversion of the people of a city, and their return to God, is described as the rebuilding of a city, and this of course would be denoted by the re-measuring of it.

2. Court which is without the temple. - The court of the Gentiles was in the large space of about twenty acres

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