2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her

A. Clarke.) The sense of this strain of praise seems then to be this: "Praise be to God, and ascriptions of salvation, glory, honor, power unto him." The reason for this is stated in the next verse.

2. True and righteous. - The acknowledgment of the justice and rectitude of God's judgments we have met with before in the Apocalypse. See xv. 3, 4, and xvi. 5, 6, 7. God is righteous in all his ways. In his judgments, as in all things else, he always has a good end in view. He cannot do wrong. He never punishes men merely for the sake of punishing them. In judgments of the greatest severity, this rule holds good. If it were not so, he would not be a God of rectitude. No description of his judgments, therefore, should lead us to attribute anything unrighteous to him. "He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy," Micah vii. 18. In the New Testament, he bears the character of a Father. He is merciful and gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy; long suffering, very pitiful; in fine, he is good to all and his tender mercy is over all his works. See the long note on this subject, under xvi. 7. ¶ Are his judgments. The judgments now referred to are evidently the judgments of Rome, called the great harlot. The angel said to John, (xvii. 1) "Come hither, and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot." In the 17th chapter, the harlot and the beast on which she sat are described. The judgment is described in chapter xviii.; and in xix. 1, 2, we find the church rejoicing at her fall. She had corrupted the earth with her fornication, and now the time of her fall had come; and God avenged the blood of his servants

fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

3 And again they said, Alle

shed by her hand. He judged the great harlot which had corrupted the earth with her example; and as she had shed the blood of God's servants profusely, he had avenged it at her hand. God judged both Jews and Romans for shedding the blood of his servants. For the Jews, see the notes on vi. 10, 11, and especially xi. 18. For the Romans, see under xiv. 7, where the time of the judgment is largely discussed; also, xvi. 5—7; xvii. 1; xviii. 8-10, and xx. 12, 13. A careful examination of our remarks on these several passages will bring the reader to a competent knowledge of the scriptural doctrine of judg ment.

ever.

3. And her smoke rose up forever and They repeated the strain of praise; they said again, "Praise to Jehovah ;" and then it is remarked, that "her smoke," viz., the smoke of burning Rome, "rose up forever and ever." If we needed any strong illustration to prove that the words "forever and ever" are applied to the duration of temporal judgments, we certainly have it in the case before us. We see not how any man can conclude that the phrase in this instance intends endless duration. Prof. Stuart supposes that the figure is borrowed from the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It may be so. We read that Abraham "Looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace;" Gen. xix. 28. This fact became a matter of frequent reference with the sacred writers; and hence we find Jude saying, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set

luia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever.

forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire;" ver. 7. For the remarks of the learned Dr. Whitby on this last-quoted passage, see under xiv. 11, and to the long note on that verse we specially refer the reader. This was the fire with which the cities were destroyed, and cannot have been eternal in any sense different from that in which temporal things are said to be so. The smoke of those cities having been a conspicuous matter of observation for years perhaps, and it being known they were destroyed as a punishment for their sins, the punishment of other rebellious cities was described under the figure of burning and of long-continued smoke. "Her smoke rose up forever and ever," i. e., from age to age. See the comments we have already offered on xviii. 18. If there be any who suppose that the term "forever and ever" implies in every case an absolute eternity, we can only say, that such persons must be ignorant of the scriptural use of it. Nothing will so soon convince a man that such a position is untenable, as a careful study of all the places in the Scriptures in which the phrase occurs. We will adduce a few passages. "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book; that it may be for the time to come, forever and ever;" Isa. xxx. 8. The destruction of Idumea is thus described: "It is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever;" Isa. χχχίν. 8-10. There can be no doubt that the punishments here described were temporal punishments;

4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell

and yet they are described in almost the precise terms that occur Rev. xiv. 10, 11. Let the reader also consult Jer. vii. 1-7. The 7th verse is : "Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever." See, also, Jer. xxv. 5: "Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you, and to your fathers, forever and ever." We do not deny, that there are instances in which the phrase will bear the sense of strictly endless duration; but in these cases it is the subject itself that convinces us of the fact. But when the phrase is applied to the duration of time, to the ascending smoke of a burning city, and to the children of Israel dwelling in the land of Canaan, we know that strictly endless duration cannot be intended. It is our duty to seek to receive the precise sense which the sacred writers sought to convey. For a full argument on this point, see the remarks under xiv. 11, where our opinions are sustained by numerous quotations from the Scriptures.

4. Four and twenty elders. The four and twenty elders are repeatedly mentioned in the Apocalypse. They were imaginary personages, who sat around the throne of God, in the revelator's ideal of that glorious place, and formed in part the court of heaven. They are supposed to be intended as representatives of the Jewish and Gentile churches, twelve (the apostolical number) being_put for each. See our remarks on Rev. iv. 4, 10; v. 8, 14; xi. 16; xiv. 3. ¶ Four beasts. The four beasts were symbolical animals, which never had real existence. Each had six wings, and they all were full of eyes within. It is unfortunate that the translators rendered zoa beasts, for living creatures would be a much

7 Let us be glad and rejoice,

opposed the march of his truth, none had been able to succeed against it. Not even the dragon, nor the beast, nor the false prophet, nor all conjoined, with those who worshipped them, could overcome the cause of God. He is omnipotent. He doeth his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." This was a sufficient matter of rejoicing. God is good, he is wise, he is just. He is such a being as every good and just man would desire should reign over the universe. If the dragon reigned, or the beast, what good man could rejoice? But they were speedily to be overcome; xix. 20; xx. 10. "Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

7. Let us be glad and rejoice.. This is the continuation of what was said by the servants of God. They congratulated one another: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor" to the Lord God. And why? The marriage of the Lamb is come. The Lamb is, of course, Jesus, the Lamb of God. His marriage festival is near, and his intended wife hath made herself ready. The nuptial relation is very frequently used by the prophets to describe the relation which God hath to his people. God spake to his people of old in the following strain: "Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the

Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God;" Isa. liv. 4-6. The same figure is of frequent occurrence in the New Testament: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word;" Eph. v. 25, 26. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church;" verses 31, 32. Once more: "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ;" 2 Cor. xi. 2. Christ, then, is the husband, and the church is his bride. With what propriety of metaphor, therefore, does the revelator say, when describing the descent of the new Jerusalem, that it is "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband ;" Rev. xxi. 2. His wife hath made herself ready. At the period which the revelator was describing, the time for the union between Christ and his church had come. The church had made herself ready to receive him. Notwithstanding all the opposition of the Roman authorities, both civil and religious, still the church was destined to be established. The time was at hand when the kingdom of God would come with power, and the new Jerusalem would descend from heaven in all its glory. And that this was the Lamb's wife, is fully evident from Rev. xxi. 9, 10: "And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will