WE have seen that before the opening of the seventh
seal, which contained the seven trumpets, there was a preparatory
interlude, and we now find that the sounding of
the last trumpet is in like manner preceded by a still fuller
episode. "Another mighty angel" The combination in this
expression has something in common both with the strong
angel with the book (v. 2), and the other angel (vii. 2) ;
which may also be compared with chap, xviii. 1 :
" another angel having great power." The present angel comes
down from heaven, descending out of the sphere of God's
hidden counsels to bring a little book part, no doubt, of the
contents of the former book which we saw opened, and
called little in contradistinction to it. This book, as might
indeed almost have been inferred after the opening of the
seventh seal had we not an express statement of the fact
given is an open book, which means that henceforth the
revelation will be comparatively less mysterious. Heaven
(with its archetypal temple, xi. 1), more widely opened, is
the scene of visions more sublime in their heaven and
earth-embracing scope, while events hurry on more and
more rapidly to the appointed end.
This angel's visible form and clothing borders, indeed,
upon the majesty of the Lord's own appearance in chap, i.,
but yet he is only what he is called, an angel." He is
clothed with a cloud," and thus all his brightness is not permitted
to appear, as later, in chap, xviii., we shall find to be
the case with regard to another angel; for as yet the plagues
and dread judgments still in part obscure the glory ; but
yet the rainbow type of reconciliation (which in chap,
iv. 3, we first saw encircling the throne of God) and the
sun-like lustre of his face, testify to the breaking forth of
grace through all. We are told that the righteous shall
shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom, and therefore
do not wonder that an angel's face should have an equal
brightness. His feet also are described, as in chap. i. 15,
as glowing with a less radiant light,"his feet are as pillars
of fire." Thus the angel may be said to appear above,
like the sun ; below, like the heavy, lightning-rent stormcloud
fit semblance of his office, as annunciator of the
last fearful judgments. Akin to this is the meaning of
this mighty one being represented with "his right foot upon
the sea and his left upon earth," as we find it written in
Ps. lxxxix. 25, of the great King, that his hand or might
shall be set in the sea and in the rivers. In a genera*
way this means the whole globe, but it has also a special
reference to the triumphant spread of God's kingdom
throughout the islands of prophetic speech, those coasts
most remote from the land of Asia. Perhaps the expression
may also secretly have some slight connexion with the
two beasts, the one rising out of the sea, the other out of
the earth (xiii. 1, 4), which are to be overcome by the
Divine might. The angel further asserts, by this setting
of his feet on land and sea, that both are God's territory,
however his enemies may for a season occupy them.
For the rest, we think it advisable here tc remind our
readers, in connexion with these symbolic forms assumed
by angels in prophetic visions, that the difference between
this mode of manifestation, and that of the angels we read
of in the historical books of Scripture, is not to mislead us
into supposing the historical angels to be mere symbols.
On the contrary, they throw light upon these later appear-
ances, and we are to learn to recognise a real personal
existence under the symbolic representation, else the word
angel would not be applied in the Scriptures of truth to
such. When we consider the infinite number and infinite
variety of angelic life and agency, and that, according to
Bible teaching, heaven and earth are full of these, and
when we reflect how sparingly their appearance, whether
in fact or in vision, is recorded throughout the whole of
the sacred volume, with the exception of this its last book,
we shall feel no surprise at the prominence into which,
from the very nature of the Apocalypse, they are brought
before us in its pages.
" The mighty angel cries with a loud voice, as when a
lion roareth" (Isa. xxi. 8 ; Amos iii. 8). We are led by
these words back to the mention, in a former passage, of
the Lion of Judah, who had already conquered, and was
further to conquer. This cannot have been a mere cry or
scream without articulate words, though what it was that
he cried to the seven thunders is no more actually recorded
than in the case of the voices of the thunders. The definite
article, the seven thunders, implies some definite reference,
and we find this reference made to Ps. xxix., that
hymn of praise to God in the storm, which receives its full
prophetic and symbolic commentary in this passage of the
Apocalypse. All mighty things praise the Mightier ; nay
the alone Mighty, who manifests himself in these tremendous
world-convulsing judgments, with this one and only purpose,
that in his temple every one shall speak of his glory,
and that after the flood of sin his regal throne may be the
more firmly established, the happy result of which will be
his giving strength to his people, yea, his giving to them
the blessing of peace. According to this view, it will be
evident that the seven thunders which John heard, are not
to be interpreted as mysteriously marking seven periods
of time, still less as mere curses, as Herder has very mistakenly
supposed ; but are rather celestial ascriptions of
praise to the mighty G-od latent even in the chastening and
destroying exhibitions of his power. To which we would
add Von Meyer's beautiful remark :" These thunder voices
have not each special words of their own, they speak with
one sound, one comprehensive harmony, into the ear of
the Spirit."
John, in accordance with the general instructions he
had received (i. 11, 19), was about to write what he had
heard, but the commandment now came :" Seal up" those
things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them
not. In connexion with this sealing up, which implies a
forbidden unsealing, see Dan. xii. 4, 9 ; we would only
here observe, that this voice from heaven is certainly not
that of the angel who stands on sea and land, and neither
is the command given in ver. 8 his, but (as we also find in
chap. xi. 12) the very voice of the Lord himself.
Finally, however, we have a speech of the mighty angel
written down for our instruction. It is an oath by Him who
liveth for ever, as in Dan. xii. 7 ; and as we find there it is
intended to mark out the duration of the time before the final
fulfilment, with this difference, that here only the right hand
is lifted up to heaven, the left holding the little book.
Again, John only gives us the former part of the speech
indirectly, quoting the direct words of the angel only in
the 7th verse :" And sware by him that liveth in the eternities
of eternities, who has created heaven, and the things
that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein
are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that a
time shall no more be" Here we have an already familiar
formula ; and on the phrase"heaven, earth, and sea"
(as also xiv. 7), we have already commented (v. 13). Nor
does the sublimely solemn expression,"in the eternities
of eternities," require any explanation either ; nay, it even
defies it. The proper translation, however, is the one we
have given, though the nature of these jeons or eternities,
spoken of as periods of time in unending time, transcends
our present powers of comprehension. To these unending
eternities is opposed the contrast of a time, which is, indeed,
the most important feature in the angel's speech, a
time slowly passing away, according to the laws of time,
and bringing about the end. In mysterious words, to be
understood according to the measure of eternity, the oath
of the angel certifies," A time shall be no more, but in the
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall sound,
the mystery of God is finished, as he hath declared to his
servants the prophets" That this passage does not literally
mean the final cessation of time, is evident from the expression
in the days of the voice of the seventh trumpet.
Consequently, the phrase must have some special sense of
its own, nor is it difficult for us to discover it in a book so
abounding in parallel passages, and therefore so self-explanatory,
as that of Revelation. The Greek word chronos
applies equally to a long interval, a respite, a delay, a
postponement, and we have already had several instances
in which it has been so used, as, for instance, in chap.
xi. 21, where we find it rendered "space to repent," and
chap vi. 11, where it stands for a further period of rest
and expectation. Therefore the meaning is simply this,
that whereas the angel with the seal demands an interval
of time before the opening of the seventh seal, which interval
is to be employed in sealing the servants of God,
so this angel, on the contrary, denies any further space for
repentance, any respite for the ungodly before the sounding
of the seventh trumpet. He affirms that stroke is to succeed
stroke, and that in a certain limited period all will be
finished. This period, however, may still seem a long one
measured by our human standard ; but in relation to that
season of waiting in which God has spoken through the
mouth of his holy prophets since the world began (Acts
iii. 21), it is so short that it can hardly be called any time
at all. Accordingly, in chap, xiv., the warning angels are
quickly succeeded by the reaping angels. But all attempts
at exact reckoning are worse than useless here.
The angel's expression, the mystery of God, has a
verbal reference to one of the most striking passages in
Old Testament prophecy :" The Lord God will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the prophets"
(Amos iii. 7). All that God has spoken must and
shall be finished; the restitution will be complete (Acts iii.
21) ; the words of God in prophecy will all be fulfilled
(xvii. 17). Here, in the passage immediately under consideration,
however, we have not the future tense, shall be
finished, but the positive and present, is finished. And it
is further said, with a significance we should err in passing
over, that it is to be finished as God had declared the
mystery of his holy will and counsel; declared, or literally
evangelized, made known as good tidings to his servants.
For even the final judgment the goal, the very essence,
so to speak, of the divine purpose and prevision will se-
cure for ever the salvation of his redeemed people, and the
glory of God's triumphant justice and holiness. Not only
are we here assured, from the lofty lips of an angel, how
far-reaching, even to the final fulfilment, and how comprehensive
are the words of the prophets of old, but we
also learn here that these prophets (more or less clearly
indeed) had already themselves received a gospel, as the
very essence of the prophecies they were commissioned to
deliver (see 1 Pet. i. 11, 12, where the apostle says the
very same thing in other words).
"We may observe that the Revelation of John, which we
have found, and shall further find, resting almost throughout
on ancient prophecy, and evolved thence ; for that
very reason avoids individual quotations, but here, in its
midst, gives us a general and comprehensive quotation
once for all, thus, as it were, endorsing and completing all
foregoing prophetic utterances whatever, though unable
evidently to refer specially to them all. Thus, for example,
the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and many
other prophecies of specific facts which John does not particularly
touch upon, are yet included in this mystery of
God which shall be finished. It is ours to seek out the
instances in which this last prophetic book coincides with
former prophecies, and where we fail to discover the coincidence,
patiently to wait for the fulfilment, which will
make clear the whole.
In verse 8, we read that the voice from heaven is again
heard by John, but we find that although he is commanded
by it to take the little book out of the angel's hand, he
timidly approaches, and prays the angel to give it him.
And the angel said unto him, perhaps not quite unexpectedly,
since John must have been reminded of a like
occurrence in the history of Ezekiel :"Take, and eat it
up ; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be
sweet as honey in thy mouth." Thus Ezekiel had also
been commanded in a vision to eat, yea to fill himself with
a certain book, in order that he might prophesy its contents
; and this is one of the most complete images of the
personal effects of inspiration, showing it to be a very
different matter from mere dictation, or mere showing, such
as we find mentioned elsewhere.
We know, indeed, that inspiration is something different
from actual personal experience ; nay, does not even
imply a perfect understanding of the very inspired words
themselves, but it does point to a degree of sympathy in
the prophets, upon which we are apt not to lay sufficient
stress. Though Ezekiel merely tells us that the book,
written within and without with mourning, lamentation,
and woe, was sweet as honey in his mouth, we cannot
doubt that he too had, like the seer, his share of after
bitterness. Here we find that John, who is by this eating
of the book expressly associated with the old prophets,
also experiences at first a sense of sweetness and joy in
receiving Divine communications, but soon sorrow, on account
of their mournful nature, succeeds. And, indeed,
the evangelizing, to the prophets, must always have been
fraught with a certain degree of bitterness to human
nature." For in much wisdom there is much grief, and
he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow
"(Eccles.i. 18). The angel had announced this bitterness first,
that John might neither wonder nor fear, but the seer
himself inverts this order, and names first the sweetness of
honey in the mouth.
Once more the same angel speaks (ver. 11), and declares
the meaning of the eating of the little open book. It implies
fresh preparation and inspiration for further pro-
phecy :" Thou must prophesy again before many peoples
and nations, and tongues, and kings."
Ezekiel, we are expressly told, was not sent to strange
nations of hard language (Ezek. iii. 5), but to the house
of Israel. John, on the contrary, has no immediate commission
for Israel after the flesh ; rather he is again
(beginning, as it were, anew) to receive and write as before,
prophecies for all manner of people and nations whatever.
He is to announce wrath and punishment to the enemies
of God, salvation and triumph to believers, who, during
the space of time to which his future prophecies particularly
refer, are the people of God contained in the
midst of, and to be assembled and delivered from, every
nation and kindred, and people and tongue, as we have
already read in chap. vii. 9. But here we have kings
added to' the list, not in the sense of kingdoms, but
rather (see the mention of them, chap. vi. 15) the hostile
kings of whom we hear so much from chaps, xvi. to xix.,
till, in chap. xxi. 24, we read of their final submission to
the King of kings.
That throughout the eleventh chapter we have not the
continued address of the angel, but the voice of the Lord
himself (already heard, ch. x. 4, 8), is unmistakable, from
the expression made use of in verse 3, "/ will give my two
witnesses." But that the angel who swore by Him who
was greater than himself, is to be understood as meaning
Christ, we positively deny. There are marvellous transformations
in the vision, manifold differences of kind and
degree. There are alternations of appearances and voices,
perhaps in order that John should not be wearied by uniformity,
and so his mind be unable to grasp and retain the
whole. Thus, for instance, in chap, xi., we may observe
and the remark is applicable to many other passages
that in verse 11, the hearing of what is spoken, evidently
changes into a beholding of what is announced, as though
it were actually happening before the seer's eyes ; and
thus the interlude leads again to the visions of the seventh
trumpet.
