casting into the lake of fire; but who every commentator has had a system ever supposed, even for one moment, of his own; and the plan of one is as that it was in the immortal state? good as the plan of any other. They See the notes on xix. 20, and xx. 10. are all confusion worse confounded. Pagan Rome met with a similar fate Such commentators bring in the to that of the Jews; not indeed as Goths, the Lombards, the French, the early, but as fatally and irrecover- Popes, the Catholic Church, [which ably. Both are "twice dead, plucked they have represented as the woman up by the roots;" Jude 12; totally riding on the beast,] the Saracens, the destroyed. They were not found Mahometans; and having applied, or written in the book of life, and were rather misapplied, much of the Apocacast into the lake of fire. The de- lypse to past history, they have gone struction of Idumea was compared to on to prophesy of what is to happen being laid waste by fire and brimstone. in the future. Some have introduced "The streams thereof shall be turned the French Revolution; the rise and into pitch, and the dust thereof into fall of Bonaparte; the events in brimstone, and the land thereof shall Egypt, Turkey, and India; and all become burning pitch. It shall not this for what? Because they have be quenched night nor day; the felt themselves obliged to make out smoke thereof shall go up forever; a series of events reaching to the imfrom generation to generation it shall mortal resurrection of the dead. It is lie waste; none shall pass through it in this vast chasm, reaching from the forever and ever;" Isa. xxxiv. 9, 10. fall of the Roman Empire forward How conformable, then, to prophetic to the immortal resurrection, that the style, to represent a people who were principal errors of commentators, in to be totally destroyed as being about regard to the Apocalypse, are found. to be cast into the lake of fire. Pa- If they would but allow that the judgganism was to be utterly destroyed ment of the dead, small and great, throughout the empire: it was done. xx. 12-15, should be explained as We have thus gone through with the we have explained it, they might twentieth chapter of the book. As make of the Apocalypse a beautiful we find, at the close of this chapter, and consistent book; but as long as that the earth and heaven were said they seek to make out that the pasto flee away, so we shall see that the sage referred to should be applied to twenty-first chapter opens with the the post-mortem state, and is not to coming of the "new heaven and the be fulfilled until after the immortal new earth." We have interpreted resurrection, they must seek to fill the twentieth chapter in harmony up the chasm we have mentioned with the whole Apocalypse, and pre- from their own wits; and they thus served a beautiful analogy through- bring endless contradictions and conout. There is one very serious objec- troversies into the church. They tion to applying Rev. xx. 12-15 to make themselves the sport of unthe immortal state; it breaks up the believers. If the evil stopped here plan of the Apocalypse. The com- we should not so earnestly complain. mentators who have done this have But they abuse the Apocalypse itself; been obliged, in making up their they bring that into disrepute for plan of the book, to trace out a careless men will not examine whethseries of events reaching to the im-er their interpretations properly bemortal resurrection. They have long to the book; but, disgusted with tasked their imaginations, therefore, phantasms, visions and contradicto make out such a series, to which tions, they will abandon commentathey can apply certain parts of the tors, Apocalypse and all, as utterly Apocalypse; and in doing this, almost unworthy of notice. A CHAPTER XXI. CHAPTER XXI. Preliminary Remarks. We found, in the last chapter, the closing up of the account of the destruction of heathenism. The final act in that drama was the destruction of "the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan," which is described in the 10th verse. first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. The new heaven and new earth here refer to what had been said in the 11th verse of the preceding chapter: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." Now the revelator says, in the verse before us: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first At the 11th verse we showed that the account of the reign of the gos-heaven and the first earth were passed pel commenced. The "great white throne" was the mediatorial throne; not a real throne, any more than the holy city, new Jerusalem, was a real city. It was a metaphor to represent the reign of Christ in the gospel; before whom the nations, represented by the "dead, small and great," stood to be judged. This judgment we found to refer not to the future state, because it commenced to take place at the time Christ's kingdom began, and will be finished at the resurrection of the dead, when all souls shall be subject to Christ, in the same sense in which Christ is subject to the Father, and God shall be all in all; 1 Cor. xv. 24-28. None can enter into this kingdom except those who are fully prepared. The stones must be hewn and squared before they can be incorporated into the edifice; and this shall be done for every soul, before the completion of the grand design men-aginations of the prophets conceived tioned in the passage last indicated. The 21st chapter is but a continuation of the subject commenced at the 11th verse of the preceding chapter. Having foretold the establishment of the mediatorial throne, and the judgment of the nations by the gospel, the revelator proceeds, in the next place, to describe the descent of the new covenant, under the metaphor of the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as will be seen below. 1. New heaven and a new earth. away," &c. The new here are the opposite or counterpart of the old, and come in to take the place of the old. It is expressly said they were introduced because "the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Now, if the new heaven and the new earth refer to the introduction of the gospel, what can the passing away of the former heaven and earth refer to, but the passing away of the law? If so, (and who can doubt it?) then the judgment of the nations, small and great, was connected with the passing away of the law, and not with the passing away of the material heaven and earth. We have already shown that it had been the custom of the Jewish writers, almost from the earliest antiquity, to represent changes among the affairs of men by changes among the heavenly bodies the sun, moon, the stars; and the ardent im sublimer metaphors to represent the greater changes, even the passing away of the whole heaven, and the earth, and the sea. There is no principle of the interpretation of Scripture metaphors more clearly settled than this. To describe the passing away of the religions that prevailed before the introduction of the gospel, but more especially that of Moses, the sacred writers use the metaphor of the dissolution of all things; and hence Peter said in his day, in connection with the "judging of the quick 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming and the dead," "The end of all things the work of their hands. They shall is at hand; be ye therefore sober, not labor in vain, nor bring forth for and watch unto prayer;" 1 Peter iv. trouble; for they are the seed of the 6, 7. From the literal application blessed of the Lord, and their offof these passages, so incontestably spring with them. And it shall come proved to be metaphorical, has arisen to pass, that before they call, I will that huge fabric of error, viz., that the answer; and while they are yet judging of the quick and the dead is speaking, I will hear. The wolf and not to take place while the material the lamb shall feed together, and the earth remaineth; hence it is thought | lion shall eat straw like the bullock; that it is still future, and shall not and dust shall be the serpent's meat. transpire until the resurrection of the They shall not hurt nor destroy in all dead into the immortal state. Such a my holy mountain, saith the Lord;" sentiment rests on a total perversion 21-25. The improved condition of of the true sense of the Bible; and Jerusalem was intended by the metawhen that good book shall come to phor of the new heavens and new be more fully understood, the whole earth as used by Isaiah; and it was fabric must fall. In the forms of the improved condition of mankind, speech adopted by the Jewish proph- under the gospel, that was denoted by ets, any great and favorable change the new heavens and new earth of the might be represented by the creation revelator. Peter, in his second Episof a new heaven and a new earth. In tle, exhorted his brethren to be "mindproof of this, see Isaiah lxv. 17: "For ful of the words which were spoken behold, I create new heavens and a new before by the holy prophets ;” iii. 2. earth; and the former shall not be He then said, "There shall come scoffremembered, nor come into mind." ers in the last days," i. e., the last days Now what does this mean? The of the former covenant; ver. 3. By next verse will show very clearly:"last days," in this place, is meant the "But be ye glad and rejoice forever same as "the end of all things;" 1 in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." From this it is evident that by the creation of a new heaven and new earth was meant a great and favorable change in the condition of Jerusalem. Observe the three points: 1st. "I create new heavens and a new earth." 2d. "Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create." 3d. "For behold, create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." The prophet then goes on to describe the prosperous and glorious condition of the Jews that was to ensue, as follows: "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy Peter iv. 7. St. Peter then proceeds to make a distinction between the material heavens and earth and the heavens and earth in the metaphorical sense. The one was the earth that was overflowed with water in the time of the flood, 2 Peter iii. 5, 6, and which has not been destroyed, but still remains to this day; the other were the heavens and the earth which were [in Peter's day] reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men; ver. 7. This "day of judgment," or "day of the Lord," is mentioned again in vers. 10-12, as follows: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with place, and xxii. 8. And there was a peculiar propriety in his naming himself here, as he was the only one of the apostles who lived until the descent of the new Jerusalem, or the coming of Christ in power and glory, took place. See John xxi. 23. How forcible, therefore, are these words: “I John saw." ¶ Holy city, new Jerusalem. shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat?" This was "the end of all things," already referred to the passing away of the old heavens and The city of Jerusalem being the earth mentioned Rev. xx. 11, as fol- place where the worship of God was lows: "From whose face the earth established, and where all the pomp and the heaven fled away; and there and splendor of the temple-service was found no place for them." Peter was seen, was called the "holy city." proceeds to say: "Nevertheless we, See Isaiah's description: "Awake, according to his promise, look for new awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; heavens and a new earth, wherein put on thy beautiful garments, O dwelleth righteousness;" ver. 13. Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceHere he evidently refers to God's forth there shall no more come promise to create a new heaven and into thee the uncircumcised and the a new earth, which promise we have unclean;" lii. 1. This was Jerualready quoted from the 65th chapter salem proper, the old Jerusalem. It of Isaiah. So the revelator, after was associated with all that was sahe had described the passing away of cred in the eyes of the Jews. Like the former heavens and earth, at "the the word Zion, the very name beday of the Lord," or day of judg-came almost a part and parcel of the ment of the dead, small and great, Jewish religion. It sometimes stood proceeds to speak of the coming metaphorically for the religion itself. of the new heavens and new earth How appropriate, how beautiful, how that is, of a very improved condi- striking a metaphor to the Jewish tion in the state of mankind. But Christians was the representation of he does it in his own style. Isaiah's the coming of the gospel covenant metaphor no longer remains a mere under the figure of the holy city,metaphor, but swells, in the revela- not the old Jerusalem, but the new tor's hands, into a splendid allegory. city of that name, coming down from He not only has a new heaven and God out of heaven. We cannot cona new earth, but a new city of Jeru-ceive of an image more fitting to the salem also, coming down from God revelator's times, or more attracting out of heaven, beautifully adorned, to the Jewish Christians who were having a wall great and high, with everywhere scattered abroad. This twelve gates, &c. &c. The new was the city referred to by the author heavens and the new earth denote of the epistle to the Hebrews, when the improved condition about to take he congratulates them as follows: place in the affairs of the world; and "But ye are come unto mount Sion, the and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in new Jerusalem denotes the gospel, by the means of which that improvement is to be produced. 2. I John. The revelator gives his name only in i. 1, 4, 9, and in this men, and he will dwell with |ple, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. them, and they shall be his peoheaven, and to God the judge of all, desired it ;" Psa. cxxxii. 13, 14. ¶ He and to the spirits of just men made will dwell with them. -During the perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of journey of the Israelites to Canaan, the new covenant, and to the blood of the divine presence was supposed to sprinkling, that speaketh better things dwell in the tabernacle, a tent, or than that of Abel;" xii. 22-24. covering, the holiest of all places in Here it is called the heavenly or spirit- the sight of the Jews After the temual Jerusalem, which agrees with the ple was built, the tabernacle was set description of the revelator, who up therein. From these facts, any says it came down from God out of place where God's spiritual presence, heaven. We shall henceforward find or image, was manifested, was called nothing further said in the Apoca- the tabernacle of the Lord, because lypse of the local heaven, or dwelling- he was supposed to dwell there. place of God, introduced into the dra- When the Jewish religion passed ma, at chap. iv. It will be the spir-away, the Christian took its place; itual heaven, the new Jerusalem, when the Jewish tabernacle was abolfrom this place. See our note on xix.ished, the Christian was set up in its 5. Prepared as a bride adorned for stead. "But Christ being come a her husband. — The only meaning high priest of good things to come, here is, that it was beautifully and by a greater and more perfect taberappropriately adorned. The bride nacle, not made with hands, that is prepares herself in beautiful and fitting attire to receive the bridegroom. See xix. 7, 8: "His wife hath made herself ready," &c. The heavenly Jerusalem, i. e., the Lamb's wife, (ver. 9,) is gloriously attired for his advent. Rome had been represented by a woman, and now a similar metaphor is used to represent the new Jerusalem. They are both represented first as women, then as cities. See xvii. 1; xix. 7, 8. But the first woman is an impure harlot; the second is a virgin bride. The first city is idolatrous and wicked; the second is "the holy city," the new Jerusalem. See our note on iii. 12. The glory of this city we shall find described in subsequent verses of this chapter. 3. The tabernacle of God is with men.- As the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, is described as having come down from heaven, it is said God will henceforth dwell with men. Zion of old was said to be his habitation. "For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever: here will I dwell: for I have to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us;" Heb. ix. 11, 12. Christians, in whom the spirit of the Lord is seen, whose image dwells in their hearts, are said to be the tabernacle, or temple of God, and in the precise sense too in which the metaphor is used by the revelator. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people;" 2 Cor. vi. 16. God came down to dwell with men spiritually in the gospel; to establish new relations with them; to make himself known more fully to them; to dwell in more intimate connection; to make them feel that he was their God and they were his people. The veil of the old covenant was to be taken away. In the temple he was supposed to dwell beneath the tabernacle; under the gospel he would dwell in men's hearts. Isaiah, the |