all nations shall come--alluding to [Psa 22:27-31]; compare [Is 66:23]; [Jr 16:19]. The conversion of all nations, therefore, shall be when Christ shall come, and not till then; and the first moving cause will be Christ's manifested judgments preparing all hearts for receiving Christ's mercy. He shall effect by His presence what we have in vain tried to effect in His absence. The present preaching of the Gospel is gathering out the elect remnant; meanwhile "the mystery of iniquity" is at work, and will at last come to its crisis; then shall judgment descend on the apostates at the harvest-end of this age (Greek, [Mt 13:39], ) when the tares shall be cleared out of the earth, which thenceforward becomes Messiah's kingdom. The confederacy of 'the apostates against Christ becomes, when overthrown with fearful judgments, the very means in God's overruling providence of preparing the nations not joined in the Antichristian league to submit themselves to Him.
judgments--Greek, "righteousnesses."
are--literally, "were": the prophetical past for the immediate future.
5. So [Re 11:19]; compare [Re 16:17]. "The tabernacle of the testimony" appropriately here comes to view, where God's faithfulness in avenging His people with judgments on their foes is about to be set forth. We need to get a glimpse within the Holy place to "understand" the secret spring and the end of God's righteous dealings.
behold--omitted by A, B, C, Syriac, and Andreas. It is supported only by Vulgate, Coptic, and Primasius, but no manuscript.
6. having--So B reads. But A and C, read "who have": not that they had them yet (compare [Re 15:7]), but they are by anticipation described according to their office.
linen--So B reads. But A, C, and Vulgate, "a stone." On the principle that the harder reading is the one least likely to be an interpolation, we should read, "a stone pure ('and' is omitted in A, B, C, and Andreas), brilliant" (so the Greek): probably the diamond. With English Version, compare [Ac 1:10]; .
golden girdles--resembling the Lord in this respect ([Re 1:13]).
7. one of the four beasts--Greek, "living creatures." The presentation of the vials to the angels by one of the living creatures implies the ministry of the Church as the medium for manifesting to angels the glories of redemption ([Ep 3:10]).
vials--"bowls"; a broad shallow cup or bowl. The breadth of the vials in their upper part would tend to cause their contents to pour out all at once, implying the overwhelming suddenness of the woes.
full of ... wrath--How sweetly do the vials full of odors, that is, the incense-perfumed prayers of the saints, contrast with these!
8. temple ... filled--([Is 6:4]); compare [Ex 40:34]; [2Ch 5:14], as to the earthly temple, of which this is the antitype.
the glory of God and ... power--then fully manifested.
no man was able to enter ... the temple--because of God's presence in His manifested glory and power during the execution of these judgments.
Chapter 16
Re 16:1-21. The Seven Vials and the Consequent Plagues
The trumpets shook the world kingdoms in a longer process; the vials destroy with a swift and sudden overthrow the kingdom of "the beast" in particular who had invested himself with the world kingdom. The Hebrews thought the Egyptian plagues to have been inflicted with but an interval of a month between them severally [Bengel, referring to Seder Olam]. As Moses took ashes from an earthly common furnace, so angels, as priestly ministers in the heavenly temple, take holy fire in sacred vials or bowls, from the heavenly altar to pour down (compare [Re 8:5]). The same heavenly altar which would have kindled the sweet incense of prayer bringing down blessing upon earth, by man's sin kindles the fiery descending curse. Just as the river Nile, which ordinarily is the source of Egypt's fertility, became blood and a curse through Egypt's sin.
1. a great voice--namely, God's. These seven vials (the detailed expansion of the vintage, [Re 14:18-20]) being called "the last," must belong to the period just when the term of the beast's power has expired (whence reference is made in them all to the worshippers of the beast as the objects of the judgments), close to the end or coming of the Son of man. The first four are distinguished from the last three, just as in the case of the seven seals and the seven trumpets. The first four are more general, affecting the earth, the sea, springs, and the sun, not merely a portion of these natural bodies, as in the case of the trumpets, but the whole of them; the last three are more particular, affecting the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and the grand consummation. Some of these particular judgments are set forth in detail in the seventeenth through twentieth chapters.
out of the temple--B and Syriac omit. But A, C, Vulgate, and Andreas support the words.
the vials--so Syriac and Coptic. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and Andreas read, "the seven vials."
upon--Greek, "into."
2. went--Greek, "went away."
poured out--So the angel cast fire into the earth previous to the series of trumpets ([Re 8:5]).
upon--so Coptic. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "into."
noisome--literally, "evil" (compare [De 28:27], ). The very same Greek word is used in the Septuagint as here, Greek, "helkos." The reason why the sixth Egyptian plague is the first here is because it was directed against the Egyptian magicians, Jannes and Jambres, so that they could not stand before Moses; and so here the plague is sent upon those who in the beast worship had practiced sorcery. As they submitted to the mark of the beast, so they must bear the mark of the avenging God. Contrast [Re 7:3]; [Eze 9:4], .
grievous--distressing to the sufferers.
sore upon the men--antitype to the sixth Egyptian plague.
which had the mark of the beast--Therefore this first vial is subsequent to the period of the beast's rule.
3. angel--So B and Andreas. But A, C, and Vulgate omit it.
upon--Greek, "into."
became as ... blood--answering to another Egyptian plague.
of a dead man--putrefying.
living soul--So B and Andreas. But A, C, and Syriac, "soul of life" (compare [Ge 1:30]; , ).
in the sea--So B and Andreas. But A, C, and Syriac read, "(as respects) the things in the sea."
4. ([Ex 7:20].)
angel--so Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas. But A, B, C, and Vulgate omit it.
5. angel of the waters--that is, presiding over the waters.
O Lord--omitted by A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas.
and shalt be--A, B, C, Vulgate, and Andreas for this clause read, "(which art and wast) holy." The Lord is now no longer He that shall come, for He is come in vengeance and therefore the third of the three clauses found in [Re 1:4], ; is here and in [Re 11:17] omitted.
judged thus--literally, "these things." "Thou didst inflict this judgment."
6. ([Re 11:18], end; [Ge 9:6]; [Is 49:26].) An anticipation of [Re 18:20], ; compare [Re 13:15].
For--A, B, C, and Andreas omit.
7. another out of--omitted in A, C, Syriac, and Coptic. Translate then, "I heard the altar [personified] saying." On it the prayers of saints are presented before God: beneath it are the souls of the martyrs crying for vengeance on the foes of God.
8. angel--so Coptic and Andreas. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and Syriac omit it.
upon--not as in [Re 16:2], , "into."