--- title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible" author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 906 of 927 url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/906/ cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 906. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/906/" --- # Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible *Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown* The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation. ## 906. Revelation · 12 of 33 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/906/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/906/#p-N [¶0] 11. The angels, as in [Re 5:11], in their turn take up the anthem of praise. There it was "many angels," here it is "all the angels." [¶1] stood--"were standing" [Alford]. [¶2] 12. Greek, "The blessing, the glory, the wisdom, the thanksgiving, the honor, the power, the might [the doxology is sevenfold, implying its totality and completeness], unto the ages of the ages." [¶3] 13. answered--namely, to my thoughts; spoke, asking the question which might have been expected to arise in John's mind from what has gone before. One of the twenty-four elders, representing the Old and New Testament ministry, appropriately acts as interpreter of this vision of the glorified Church. [¶4] What, &c.--Greek order, "These which are arrayed in white robes, WHO are they?" [¶5] 14. Sir--Greek, "Lord." B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic versions, and Cyprian read, "My Lord." A omits "My," as English Version. [¶6] thou knowest--taken from [Eze 37:3]. Comparatively ignorant ourselves of divine things, it is well for us to look upward for divinely communicated knowledge. [¶7] came--rather as Greek, "come"; implying that they are just come. [¶8] great tribulation--Greek, "THE great tribulation"; "the tribulation, the great one," namely, the tribulation to which the martyrs were exposed under the fifth seal, the same which Christ foretells as about to precede His coming ([Mt 24:21], great tribulation), and followed by the same signs as the sixth seal ([Mt 24:29], ), compare [Da 12:1]; including also retrospectively all the tribulation which the saints of all ages have had to pass through. Thus this seventh chapter is a recapitulation of the vision of the six seals, [Re 6:1-17], to fill up the outline there given in that part of it which affects the faithful of that day. There, however, their number was waiting to be completed, but here it is completed, and they are seen taken out of the earth before the judgments on the Antichristian apostasy; with their Lord, they, and all His faithful witnesses and disciples of past ages, wait for His coming and their coming to be glorified and reign together with Him. Meanwhile, in contrast with their previous sufferings, they are exempt from the hunger, thirst, and scorching heats of their life on earth ([Re 7:16]), and are fed and refreshed by the Lamb of God Himself ([Re 7:17]; [14:1-4], ); an earnest of their future perfect blessedness in both body and soul united (Re 21:4-6; 22:1-5). [¶9] washed ... robes ... white in the blood of ... Lamb--([Re 1:5]; [Is 1:18]; [He 9:14]; [1Jo 1:7]; compare [Is 61:10]; [Zec 3:3-5]). Faith applies to the heart the purifying blood; once for all for justification, continually throughout the life for sanctification. [¶10] 15. Therefore--because they are so washed white; for without it they could never have entered God's holy heaven; [Re 22:14], "Blessed are those who wash their robes (the oldest manuscripts reading), that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city"; [Re 21:27]; [Ep 5:26], . [¶11] before--Greek, "in the presence of." [Mt 5:8]; [1Co 13:12], "face to face." [¶12] throne ... temple--These are connected because we can approach the heavenly King only through priestly mediation; therefore, Christ is at once King and Priest on His throne. [¶13] day and night--that is, perpetually; as those approved of as priests by the Sanhedrim were clothed in white, and kept by turns a perpetual watch in the temple at Jerusalem; compare as to the singers, [1Ch 9:33], "day and night"; [Psa 134:1]. Strictly "there is no night" in the heavenly sanctuary ([Re 22:5]). [¶14] in his temple--in what is the heavenly analogue to His temple on earth, for strictly there is "no temple therein" ([Re 21:22]), "God and the Lamb are the temple" filling the whole, so that there is no distinction of sacred and secular places; the city is the temple, and the temple the city. Compare [Re 4:8], "the four living creatures rest not day and night, saying, Holy," &c. [¶15] shall dwell among them--rather (Greek, "scenosei ep' autous"), "shall be the tabernacle over them" (compare [Re 21:3]; [Le 26:11], especially [Is 4:5], ; ; ; [Eze 37:27]). His dwelling among them is to be understood as a secondary truth, besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert. When once He tabernacled among us as the Word made flesh, He was in great lowliness; then He shall be in great glory. [¶16] 16. ([Is 49:10]). [¶17] hunger no more--as they did here. [¶18] thirst any more--([Joh 4:13]). [¶19] the sun--literally, scorching in the East. Also, symbolically, the sun of persecution. [¶20] neither ... light--Greek, "by no means at all ... light" (fall). [¶21] heat--as the sirocco. [¶22] 17. in the midst of the throne--that is, in the middle point in front of the throne ([Re 5:6]). [¶23] feed--Greek, "tend as a shepherd." [¶24] living fountains of water--A, B, Vulgate, and Cyprian read, (eternal) "life's fountains of waters." "Living" is not supported by the old authorities. ### Chapter 8 ### Re 8:1-13. Seventh Seal. Preparation for the Seven Trumpets. The First Four and the Consequent Plagues [¶27] 1. was--Greek, "came to pass"; "began to be." [¶28] silence in heaven about ... half an hour--The last seal having been broken open, the book of God's eternal plan of redemption is opened for the Lamb to read to the blessed ones in heaven. The half hour's silence contrasts with the previous jubilant songs of the great multitude, taken up by the angels ([Re 7:9-11]). It is the solemn introduction to the employments and enjoyments of the eternal Sabbath-rest of the people of God, commencing with the Lamb's reading the book heretofore sealed up, and which we cannot know till then. In [Re 10:4], similarly at the eve of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the seven thunders uttered their voices, John is forbidden to write them. The seventh trumpet ([Re 11:15-19]) winds up God's vast plan of providence and grace in redemption, just as the seventh seal brings it to the same consummation. So also the seventh vial, [Re 16:17]. Not that the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, though parallel, are repetitions. They each trace the course of divine action up to the grand consummation in which they all meet, under a different aspect. Thunders, lightnings, an earthquake, and voices close the seven thunders and the seven seals alike (compare [Re 8:5], with [Re 11:19]). Compare at the seventh vial, the voices, thunders, lightnings, and earthquake, [Re 16:18]. The half-hour silence is the brief pause GIVEN TO John between the preceding vision and the following one, implying, on the one hand, the solemn introduction to the eternal sabbatism which is to follow the seventh seal; and, on the other, the silence which continued during the incense-accompanied prayers which usher in the first of the seven trumpets ([Re 8:3-5]). In the Jewish temple, musical instruments and singing resounded during the whole time of the offering of the sacrifices, which formed the first part of the service. But at the offering of incense, solemn silence was kept ("My soul waiteth upon God," [Psa 62:1]; "is silent," Margin; [Psa 65:1], Margin), the people praying secretly all the time. The half-hour stillness implies, too, the earnest adoring expectation with which the blessed spirits and the angels await the succeeding unfolding of God's judgments. A short space is implied; for even an hour is so used ([Re 17:12]; , ). [¶29] 2. the seven angels--Compare the apocryphal Tobit 12:15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." Compare [Lu 1:19], "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." [¶30] stood--Greek, "stand." [¶31] seven trumpets--These come in during the time while the martyrs rest until their fellow servants also, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled; for it is the inhabiters of the earth on whom the judgments fall, on whom also the martyrs prayed that they should fall ([Re 6:10]). All the ungodly, and not merely some one portion of them, are meant, all the opponents and obstacles in the way of the kingdom of Christ and His saints, as is proved by [Re 11:15], , end, at the close of the seven trumpets. The Revelation becomes more special only as it advances farther (Re 13:1-18; 16:10; 17:18). By the seven trumpets the world kingdoms are overturned to make way for Christ's universal kingdom. The first four are connected together; and the last three, which alone have Woe, woe, woe ([Re 8:7-13]). [¶32] 3. another angel--not Christ, as many think; for He, in Revelation, is always designated by one of His proper titles; though, doubtless, He is the only true High Priest, the Angel of the Covenant, standing before the golden altar of incense, and there, as Mediator, offering up His people's prayers, rendered acceptable before God through the incense of His merit. Here the angel acts merely as a ministering spirit ([He 1:4]), just as the twenty-four elders have vials full of odors, or incense, which are the prayers of saints ([Re 5:8]), and which they present before the Lamb. How precisely their ministry, in perfuming the prayers of the saints and offering them on the altar of incense, is exercised, we know not, but we do know they are not to be prayed TO. If we send an offering of tribute to the king, the king's messenger is not allowed to appropriate what is due to the king alone. [¶33] there was given unto him--The angel does not provide the incense; it is given to him by Christ, whose meritorious obedience and death are the incense, rendering the saints' prayers well pleasing to God. It is not the saints who give the angel the incense; nor are their prayers identified with the incense; nor do they offer their prayers to him. Christ alone is the Mediator through whom, and to whom, prayer is to be offered. [¶34] offer it with the prayers--rather as Greek, "give it TO the prayers," so rendering them efficacious as a sweet-smelling savor to God. Christ's merits alone can thus incense our prayers, though the angelic ministry be employed to attach this incense to the prayers. The saints' praying on earth, and the angel's incensing in heaven, are simultaneous. [¶35] all saints--The prayers both of the saints in the heavenly rest, and of those militant on earth. The martyrs' cry is the foremost, and brings down the ensuing judgments. [¶36] golden altar--antitype to the earthly. [¶37] 4. the smoke ... which came with the prayers ... ascended up--rather, "the smoke of the incense FOR (or 'given TO': 'given' being understood from [Re 8:3]) the prayers of the saints ascended up, out of the angel's hand, in the presence of Gods" The angel merely burns the incense given him by Christ the High Priest, so that its smoke blends with the ascending prayers of the saints. The saints themselves are priests; and the angels in this priestly ministration are but their fellow servants ([Re 19:10]). [¶38] 5. cast it into the earth--that is, unto the earth: the hot coals off the altar cast on the earth, symbolize God's fiery judgments about to descend on the Church's foes in answer to the saints' incense-perfumed prayers which have just ascended before God, and those of the martyrs. How marvellous the power of the saints' prayers! [¶39] there were--"there took place," or "ensued." [¶40] voices, and thunderings, and lightnings--B places the "voices" after "thunderings." A places it after "lightnings." [¶41] 6. sound--blow the trumpets. [¶42] 7. The common feature of the first four trumpets is, the judgments under them affect natural objects, the accessories of life, the earth, trees, grass, the sea, rivers, fountains, the light of the sun, moon, and stars. The last three, the woe-trumpets ([Re 8:13]), affect men's life with pain, death, and hell. The language is evidently drawn from the plagues of Egypt, five or six out of the ten exactly corresponding: the hail, the fire ([Ex 9:24]), the WATER turned to blood ([Ex 7:19]), the darkness ([Ex 10:21]), the locusts ([Ex 10:12]), and perhaps the death ([Re 9:18]). Judicial retribution in kind characterizes the inflictions of the first four, those elements which had been abused punishing their abusers. [¶43] mingled with--A, B, and Vulgate read, Greek, "... IN blood." So in the case of the second and third vials ([Re 16:3], ). [¶44] upon the earth--Greek, "unto the earth." A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac add, "And the third of the earth was burnt up." So under the third trumpet, the third of the rivers is affected: also, under the sixth trumpet, the third part of men are killed. In [Zec 13:8], this tripartite division appears, but the proportions reversed, two parts killed, only a third preserved. Here, vice versa, two-thirds escape, one-third is smitten. The fire was the predominant element.