---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 915 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/915/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 915. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/915/"
---

# 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.

## 915. Revelation · 21 of 33

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/915/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/915/#p-N

[¶0] indignation--Greek, "orges," "abiding wrath," But the Greek for "wrath" above (Greek, "thumou") is boiling indignation, from (Greek, "thuo") a root meaning "to boil"; this is temporary ebullition of anger; that is lasting [Ammonius], and accompanied with a purpose of vengeance [Origen on Psalm 2:5].

[¶1] tormented ... in the presence of ... angels--([Psa 49:14]; ; ; [Is 66:24]). God's enemies are regarded by the saints as their enemies, and when the day of probation is past, their mind shall be so entirely one with God's, that they shall rejoice in witnessing visibly the judicial vindication of God's righteousness in sinners' punishment.

[¶2] 11. for ever and ever--Greek, "unto ages of ages."

[¶3] no rest day nor night--Contrast the very different sense in which the same is said of the four living creatures in heaven, "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy"; yet they do "rest" in another sense; they rest from sin and sorrow, weariness and weakness, trial and temptation ([Re 14:13]); the lost have no rest from sin and Satan, terror, torment, and remorse.

[¶4] 12. Here, &c.--resumed from [Re 13:10]; see on [Re 13:10]. In the fiery ordeal of persecution which awaits all who will not worship the beast, the faith and patience of the followers of God and Jesus shall be put to the test, and proved.

[¶5] patience--Greek, "hupomene," "patient, persevering endurance." The second "here" is omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Primasius. Translate, "Here is the endurance of the saints, who keep," &c.

[¶6] the faith of Jesus--the faith which has Jesus for its object.

[¶7] 13. Encouragement to cheer those persecuted under the beast.

[¶8] Write--to put it on record for ever.

[¶9] Blessed--in resting from their toils, and, in the case of the saints just before alluded to as persecuted by the beast, in resting from persecutions. Their full blessedness is now "from henceforth," that is, FROM THIS TIME, when the judgment on the beast and the harvest gatherings of the elect are imminent. The time so earnestly longed for by former martyrs is now all but come; the full number of their fellow servants is on the verge of completion; they have no longer to "rest (the same Greek as here, anapausis) yet for a little season," their eternal rest, or cessation from toils ([2Th 1:7]; Greek, "anesis," relaxation after hardships. [He 4:9], , sabbatism of rest; and Greek, "catapausis," akin to the Greek here) is close at hand now. They are blessed in being about to sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb ([Re 19:9]), and in having part in the first resurrection ([Re 20:6]), and in having right to the tree of life ([Re 22:14]). In [Re 14:14-16] follows the explanation of why they are pronounced "blessed" now in particular, namely, the Son of man on the cloud is just coming to gather them in as the harvest ripe for garner.

[¶10] Yea, saith the Spirit--The words of God the Father (the "voice from heaven") are echoed back and confirmed by the Spirit (speaking in the Word, [Re 2:7]; 22:17; and in the saints, [2Co 5:5]; [1Pe 4:14]). All "God's promises in Christ are yea" ([2Co 1:20]).

[¶11] unto me--omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic.

[¶12] that they may--The Greek includes also the idea, They are blessed, in that they SHALL rest from their toils (so the Greek).

[¶13] and--So B and Andreas read. But A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac read "for." They rest from their toils because their time for toil is past; they enter on the blessed rest because of their faith evinced by their works which, therefore, "follow WITH (so the Greek) them." Their works are specified because respect is had to the coming judgment, wherein every man shall be "judged according to his works." His works do not go before the believer, nor even go by his side, but follow him at the same time that they go with him as a proof that he is Christ's.

[¶14] 14. crown--Greek, "stephanon," "garland" of victory; not His diadem as a king. The victory is described in detail, [Re 19:11-21].

[¶15] one sat--"one sitting," Greek, "cathemenon homoion," is the reading of A, B, C, Vulgate, and Coptic.

[¶16] 15. Thrust in--Greek, "Send." The angel does not command the "Son of man" ([Re 14:14]), but is the mere messenger announcing to the Son the will of God the Father, in whose hands are kept the times and the seasons.

[¶17] thy sickle--alluding to [Mr 4:29], where also it is "sendeth the sickle." The Son sends His sickle-bearing angel to reap the righteous when fully ripe.

[¶18] harvest--the harvest crop. By the harvest-reaping the elect righteous are gathered out; by the vintage the Antichristian offenders are removed out of the earth, the scene of Christ's coming kingdom. The Son of man Himself, with a golden crown, is introduced in the harvest-gathering of the elect, a mere angel in the vintage ([Re 14:18-20]).

[¶19] is ripe--literally, "is dried." Ripe for glory.

[¶20] 16. thrust in--Greek, "cast."

[¶21] 17. out of the temple ... in heaven--([Re 11:19]).

[¶22] 18. from the altar--upon which were offered the incense-accompanied prayers of all saints, which bring down in answer God's fiery judgment on the Church's foes, the fire being taken from the altar and cast upon the earth.

[¶23] fully ripe--Greek, "come to their acme"; ripe for punishment.

[¶24] 19. "The vine" is what is the subject of judgment because its grapes are not what God looked for considering its careful culture, but "wild grapes" ([Is 5:1-30]). The apostate world of Christendom, not the world of heathendom who have not heard of Christ, is the object of judgment. Compare the emblem, [Re 19:15]; [Is 63:2], ; [Joe 3:13].

[¶25] 20. without the city--Jerusalem. The scene of the blood-shedding of Christ and His people shall be also the scene of God's vengeance on the Antichristian foe. Compare the "horsemen," [Re 9:16], .

[¶26] blood--answering to the red wine. The slaughter of the apostates is what is here spoken of, not their eternal punishment.

[¶27] even unto the horse bridles--of the avenging "armies of heaven."

[¶28] by the space of a thousand ... six hundred furlongs--literally, "a thousand six hundred furlongs off" [W. Kelly]. Sixteen hundred is a square number; four by four by one hundred. The four quarters, north, south, east, and west, of the Holy Land, or else of the world (the completeness and universality of the world-wide destruction being hereby indicated). It does not exactly answer to the length of Palestine as given by Jerome, one hundred sixty Roman miles. Bengel thinks the valley of Kedron, between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, is meant, the torrent in that valley being about to be discolored with blood to the extent of sixteen hundred furlongs. This view accords with Joel's prophecy that the valley of Jehoshaphat is to be the scene of the overthrow of the Antichristian foes.

### Chapter 15

### Re 15:1-8. The Last Seven Vials of Plagues: Song of the Victors over the Beast

[¶31] 1. the seven last plagues--Greek, "seven plagues which are the last."

[¶32] is filled up--literally, "was finished," or "consummated": the prophetical past for the future, the future being to God as though it were past, so sure of accomplishment is His word. This verse is the summary of the vision that follows: the angels do not actually receive the vials till [Re 15:7]; but here, in [Re 15:1], by anticipation they are spoken of as having them. There are no more plagues after these until the Lord's coming in judgment. The destruction of Babylon ([Re 18:2]) is the last: then in [Re 19:11-16] He appears.

[¶33] 2. sea of glass--Answering to the molten sea or great brazen laver before the mercy seat of the earthly temple, for the purification of the priests; typifying the baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are made kings and priests unto God.

[¶34] mingled with fire--answering to the baptism on earth with fire, that is, fiery trial, as well as with the Holy Ghost, which Christ's people undergo to purify them, as gold is purified of its dross in the furnace.

[¶35] them that had gotten the victory over--Greek, "those (coming) off from (the conflict with) the beast-conquerors."

[¶36] over the number of his name--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit the words in English Version, "over his mark." The mark, in fact, is the number of his name which the faithful refused to receive, and so were victorious over it.

[¶37] stand on the sea of glass--Alford and De Burgh explain "on (the shore of) the sea": at the sea. So the preposition, Greek, "epi," with the accusative case, is used for at, [Re 3:20]. It has a pregnant sense: "standing" implies rest, Greek "epi" with the accusative case implies motion "towards." Thus the meaning is, Having come TO the sea, and now standing AT it. In [Mt 14:26], where Christ walks on the sea, the Greek oldest manuscripts have the genitive, not the accusative as here. Allusion is made to the Israelites standing on the shore at the Red Sea, after having passed victoriously through it, and after the Lord had destroyed the Egyptian foe (type of Antichrist) in it. Moses and the Israelites' song of triumph ([Ex 15:1]) has its antitype in the saints' "song of Moses and the Lamb" ([Re 15:3]). Still English Version is consistent with good Greek, and the sense will then be: As the sea typifies the troubled state out of which the beast arose, and which is to be no more in the blessed world to come ([Re 21:1]), so the victorious saints stand on it, having it under their feet (as the woman had the moon, see on [Re 12:1]); but it is now no longer treacherous wherein the feet sink, but solid like glass, as it was under the feet of Christ, whose triumph and power the saints now share. Firmness of footing amidst apparent instability is thus represented. They can stand, not merely as victorious Israel at the Red Sea, and as John upon the sand of the shore, but upon the sea itself, now firm, and reflecting their glory as glass, their past conflict shedding the brighter luster on their present triumph. Their happiness is heightened by the retrospect of the dangers through which they have passed. Thus this corresponds to [Re 7:14], .

[¶38] harps of God--in the hands of these heavenly virgins, infinitely surpassing the timbrels of Miriam and the Israelitesses.

[¶39] 3. song of Moses ... and ... the Lamb--The New Testament song of the Lamb (that is, the song which the Lamb shall lead, as being "the Captain of our salvation," just as Moses was leader of the Israelites, the song in which those who conquer through Him [Ro 8:37] shall join, [Re 12:11]) is the antitype to the triumphant Old Testament song of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea ([Ex 15:1-21]). The Churches of the Old and New Testament are essentially one in their conflicts and triumphs. The two appear joined in this phrase, as they are in the twenty-four elders. Similarly, [Is 12:1-6] foretells the song of the redeemed (Israel foremost) after the second antitypical exodus and deliverance at the Egyptian Sea. The passage through the Red Sea under the pillar of cloud was Israel's baptism, to which the believer's baptism in trials corresponds. The elect after their trials (especially those arising from the beast) shall be taken up before the vials of wrath be poured on the beast and his kingdom. So Noah and his family were taken out of the doomed world before the deluge; Lot was taken out of Sodom before its destruction; the Christians escaped by a special interposition of Providence to Pella before the destruction of Jerusalem. As the pillar of cloud and fire interposed between Israel and the Egyptian foe, so that Israel was safely landed on the opposite shore before the Egyptians were destroyed; so the Lord, coming with clouds and in flaming fire, shall first catch up His elect people "in the clouds to meet Him in the air," and then shall with fire destroy the enemy. The Lamb leads the song in honor of the Father amidst the great congregation. This is the "new song" mentioned in [Re 14:3]. The singing victors are the 144,000 of Israel, "the first-fruits," and the general "harvest" of the Gentiles.

[¶40] servant of God--([Ex 14:31]; [Nu 12:7]; [Jos 22:5]). The Lamb is more: He is the SON.

[¶41] Great and marvellous are thy works, &c.--part of Moses' last song ([De 32:3], ). The vindication of the justice of God that so He may be glorified is the grand end of God's dealings. Hence His servants again and again dwell upon this in their praises ([Re 16:7]; ; [Pr 16:4]; [Jr 10:10]; [Da 4:37]). Especially at the judgment (Psa 50:1-6; 145:17).

[¶42] saints--There is no manuscript authority for this. A, B, Coptic, and Cyprian read, "of the NATIONS." C reads "of the ages," and so Vulgate and Syriac. The point at issue in the Lord's controversy with the earth is, whether He, or Satan's minion, the beast, is "the King of the nations"; here at the eve of the judgments descending on the kingdom of the beast, the transfigured saints hail Him as "the King of the nations" ([Eze 21:27]).

[¶43] 4. Who shall not--Greek, "Who is there but must fear Thee?" Compare Moses' song, [Ex 15:14-16], on the fear which God's judgments strike into the foe.

[¶44] thee--so Syriac. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and Cyprian reject "thee."