NOTES OF READINGS ON REVELATION
[p. 295] NOTES OF READINGS ON REVELATION
Revelation 3 and 4
The presentation of Christ personally to Philadelphia is unspeakably full and blessed. The Lord’s word shows that it shall be demonstrated to all that “I have loved thee”. All this connects especially with the attitude of Christ in chapter 22: 16: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches”.
The promise to the overcomer here is very full and touches one of the few points which reach on to the eternal state with its glorious light, akin to chapter 21: 2; there is the name of God written on the overcomer, “and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God and my new name”.
The pillar of which the Lord speaks gives the thought of strength, adornment and testimony. These thoughts are seen in 1 Kings 7: 21, 22, and these qualities really found expression in Christ.
Laodicea follows Thyatira and Sardis morally, especially the latter, as producing the inflation of pride in knowledge and human self-sufficiency. Really it is the spirit of the world which thrusts Christ out and hence He speaks from without. Light given to Philadelphia ceasing to be valued becomes merged into the moral blindness of Laodicea in its most forbidding form. It is repugnant to Christ.
The voice of the Lord to the individual and the response is very suggestive of what is found in Malachi, and the perverted tone of the people rebuked in Malachi is strikingly like that which the Lord judges in Laodicea.
The Lord at the end makes much of the individual who is faithful, “if any one hear my voice”, the character of things is akin to 2 Timothy 2, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, and “if therefore one shall have purified himself”.
The Lord is at the door of the heart appealing to the individual affection. Gold, white raiment and a seat in His throne are promised. The next moment, in chapter 4, those things are seen actually adorning them and they have the throne. The white garments and the golden crowns are a striking fulfilment of what, at this moment, the Lord holds out to those who struggle, overcoming Laodicean conditions. We are separated but by a step, a moment of time, and we soon shall pass through the door into heaven. May we be in the power of it in our spirits!
The door opened in heaven indicates a change in the development of God’s dealings. The prophet’s position was changed. The previous chapters treat of the assembly period; administration had been connected with it but now all was connected with the throne in heaven. Henceforth things are directed from heaven. The communications received by the apostle on earth had reference to the assembly; communications in regard to God’s public dealings are received in heaven. “Come up hither”. All that follows is after the assembly period. The history of the assembly on earth is now regarded as at an end. One series of events in the divine ways is ended and another is begun; that is, “the things that are about to be after these”. The scene is in heaven, but it has reference to the earth; God is now reverting to the covenant that He made with Noah. The government of God on the earth had been carried on in a providential or indirect way, but this chapter shows direct relations with creation.
These two chapters, 4 and 5, show the groundwork of what follows. Chapter 4 sets forth God’s creation rights, chapter 5 His redemption rights. The prominent thought is that God is resuming direct relations [p. 297] with the earth. These two chapters form the basis of what follows. The rainbow reminds us of Genesis 9. It is God reverting to the covenant He made with the whole creation. That covenant was unconditional, but the covenant made with Adam was conditional. The covenant with Noah was on the ground of the burnt-offering. It was an unconditional covenant made with Noah, his sons, every living creature and the, earth itself. Permanency marked the order of things set up under Noah. This is shown in Genesis 8: 22. Noah had carried through in the ark the creation, representatively. The rainbow was the token of the covenant God made with creation, hence its appearance here is a sign of God’s faithfulness. The throne here signifies that God has the means of carrying out His will. Under Noah the creation was taken up in a new way. On the ground of the burnt-offering there is a permanent order of things inaugurated.
The rapture is implied here in the word which the Lord speaks to Philadelphia; “I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”. That necessitates the rapture, and in the first verse of chapter 4 John also is bidden to “Come up hither”. The elders being in heaven also shows that the rapture is taken account of as accomplished.
In Romans 8 we read that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now”, but it is awaiting deliverance. These chapters have the creature deliverance in view. “The living creatures”, being four, represent the whole of creation. Death had been on the creation; but these creatures are living, a token that death will be set aside, at the time indicated in the vision.
The four-and-twenty elders allude to 1 Chronicles 24. You will find in that book that the order is on the basis of twenty-four rather than twelve. This [p. 298] helps us to understand the economy set up by David. Under Moses twelve was more the number. David had the priests divided into twenty-four courses, also the Levites. The people, too, were set apart for service, twenty-four thousand for each month. We are not told that David was instructed by the Lord to do this. David is seen acting in wisdom as head; he did it by divine wisdom. All this suggests the merging of two dispensations.
The elders represent saints of two dispensations; the double idea is seen. The Christian dispensation involves greater responsibility than any previous one. The Spirit of God tells us, that “all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come”, 1 Corinthians 10: 11. It has been said that the New Testament gives us the science of navigation, and the Old Testament is the log-book. If we understand this, the Old Testament would be regarded in a different light. The mariner steers his ship according to the science, but he records his experience in the log-book. If the sky is dark, the mariner has to have recourse to dead-reckoning, and in this the findings of those who have gone that way before us are of immense help. So that the experiences of those that have gone before are recorded for our learning. All is recorded in view of the New Testament. The Lord says that the instructed scribe brings out of his treasure “things new and old”. The new things come first morally. The idea in eldership is experience. The crowns point to royal dignity. There is not any disparity between the elders and their crowns. The elders are marked by experience and intelligence. They are in the mind of God in regard to things. In chapter 7 you will find that they can give an account of the saints. The elders lend a peculiar character to the throne, There are lightnings and thunderings and lamps of [p. 299] fire; the presence of the elders has a modifying effect on the mind. A government connected with them has a peculiar character. They have been down here and have gone through things themselves, and this enables them to be sympathetic with others, and with the creation. They know what evil is, having had to deal with it experimentally; and they know what God is, and in this way they are in full intelligent accord with the throne. Noah, Abraham, and Moses, will be among the elders no doubt.
The lightnings, thunderings, voices and lamps of fire, which later are said to be the seven spirits of God, indicate the power of God in regard to the accomplishment of His purpose. At mount Sinai, where experience in man is wanting, there are the lightnings and thunderings, which announce the power of the throne to deal with evil, but the presence of the elders and the living creatures is in striking contrast to Sinai. It is the throne of God. Christ is the Person who sits on it, but it is the throne of God. The sea of glass is fixed purity. As to the scene in heaven, water is no longer needed. It refers to a state of things which God will bring to pass.
The “living creatures” suggest discernment. They do not give a reason for their praise, but the elders do. Everything that has breath shall praise God. The living creatures say, “Holy, holy, holy”, but the elders worship and give a reason for what they do. The living creatures represent the whole of creation, inasmuch as there is the number four, which conveys the universal idea.
The lion is strength; intelligence is in the man the calf (or ox) is referred to as that which has a firm tread, and the eagle shows rapidity of movement. In result the different heads of creation appear and represent the attributes of God in the execution of His government. It is the intelligence with which things are done.
Chapter 18 God’s reckoning as to time for judgment is short. It is “one hour” here, verse 17. It seems strange to find any who are true mixed in this state of things, but you find Obadiah, a prophet, in the household of Ahab: he was out of place. When Elijah appears, he excuses himself, because he is in the wrong position, but he was the Lord’s for all that. There are those of the Lord’s in this system. They are like Lot in Sodom.
There is no reason why Antichrist may not already be living upon the earth, and also the beast, who may take imperial power. The old Roman Empire, which embraced the south and west of Europe and north of Africa, is virtually revived as to territory already.
What we see here in Revelation 18 is the final end to the threads which began to be spun in the garden of Eden. Lawlessness came in there, and there began the spinning of the threads which are all gathered up at this point. In the beginning, Satan endeavoured to get sway through Adam, then through Nimrod. God’s answer to the latter was Abraham’s separation, and from that time on Babylon has been in evidence. Verse 21 shows the manner of the end. “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all”. God reverts to the beginning of His ordering of the nations in Genesis 11; it is there that we get the confederation of peoples that they might maintain themselves in unity; they say, “Let us make us a name”. God’s answer was dispersion by breaking men up into nations. Babylon takes spiritual form, and in the end the “great millstone” goes into the sea. Men assembled in Genesis 11, but in the divine ways they were dispersed.
[p. 301] Now that confederation of peoples reassemble to be independent of God, and finally become self-destructive. It is the nations that destroy Babylon. Casting a great stone into the sea from a height produces violent agitation. It is a very significant and impressive closing. There was an end in the Lord’s day of what existed up till then; the Lord takes note of the guilt of those who killed the martyrs from Abel to Zechariah, and puts it upon the generation then existent. That generation were about to put Him to death. Now this chapter 18 records the end before the introduction of “the world to come”, and the Spirit of God takes account of the guilt of that wicked generation from Cain who slew Abel, through to the Lord’s death, and to the complete end, putting upon Babylon the blood of all that has been shed upon the earth. “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth”, verse 24. It suggests that unless you distinctly and positively separate yourself and come under Christ you are regarded as one of those who are responsible for all that has happened against God and Christ in this blood guilty world.
What one sees all through is that if the Lord must give us a book of judgment He will cause that the same will be full of bright points of light where He shows His own pleasure or brings out the moral import of what is happening. He sets up landmarks of clear guidance and moral attraction all through the book; so that we are not called upon to read through an unbroken record of judgment, which would be very depressing by itself.
[p. 302] Chapter 19 The word as to the heavenly company rejoicing in the overthrow of Babylon is quite striking. Peace is about to be introduced on earth, and ii had already been established in heaven. The birth of the Lord brought out the announcement that there should be “peace on earth, good pleasure in men”, but the rejection of Christ transferred the thought of peace to heaven — “peace in heaven”. This book shows that peace is first established in heaven; all is brought into accord with God there, so that there is sympathy with what is going on on earth. Heaven is sympathetic with what God is doing on earth. The thought is to bring the earth into accord with heaven. The entrance of the Man-child into heaven involved peace there. Heaven, therefore Js sympathetic with what God is doing, and that is to bring about a state of things where there shall be peace. That is what this chapter, among other things, shows. The heavenly company is in sympathy with what God does, and rejoices in the judgment of what is corrupt.
The ark ought to be on earth, but instead of being there it is seen in heaven in chapter 11: 19. Things are all secured in heaven, and earth is to be brought into accord with that; indeed, that is the point of the prayer the Lord taught the disciple, that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
To consider the subject of Babylon here it is important to bear in mind that the book of Revelation from chapter 6 is divided into two main parts. In the first part the “powers that be”, the imperial powers, are used as instruments of discipline in the government of God. For instance, in chapter 6 the imperial power is seen as going forth “conquering, and to conquer”. They come under he “seals”, and are used governmentally. In chapter 12 the same powers are viewed as direct instruments of Satan; that chapter brings in the imperial thought [p. 303] in Christ, and when it is presented in Christ we see at once the opposition of Satan. The true attitude is exposed; the dragon is ready to swallow the Man-child who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron: Then you have a course of instruction which shows that the world-power is at the disposal of Satan. The world-power is seen in the beast and false prophet in chapter 13. In chapter 17 the same beast is seen under the influence of this corrupt woman; it is the religious system. All is under Satan in opposition to the imperial idea in Christ. God takes up the imperial idea in Christ; He is the Man-child; He is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. You have then a course of instruction which shows the world-power opposed to that, and chapter 19 celebrates the overthrow of what opposes.
The idea of imperialism originated with man, but God meets it in Christ. Nimrod was the originator of imperialism: it began where God separated man kind into nations. God divided them, and imperialism means that the division barriers are overthrown; the nations are united under one head. That is contrary to God’s thought until Christ comes. God is hindering it now for the good of the saints. Christ is King of Israel, and also Ruler of all the nations.
He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Babylon’s fall is in a sense really past, for God has intervened to break its power, and Babylon is not what it was. The system is seen here in its entirety. At that particular time one of the heads of the beast existed; the history of the ecclesiastical power is outlined here from its inception to the end.
The idea of Babylon is not limited to the Romish church. It encourages commercial and political prosperity. The high-tide of Catholicism covered the centuries immediately preceding the Reformation. The point to see is that God introduces imperialism in Christ, and that being established you have [p. 304] brought into view the powers of evil against it. That is seen in chapters 12 - 19. Babylon is the world-power which took the place of Israel historically, and what marks it is corruption, and by this it captivates what is of God and brings it under its influence.
The whole power of the world is linked together here, but Babylon is strictly the religious side, so that you have the word “harlot”. It is a great thing to get the thought of how God meets man’s lawless effort. God meets this world’s imperialism in Christ. Christ comes out and God is vindicated. It is encouraging to hear the call “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her”. In the light of that we should form a right judgment of this corrupt system now. “Come out of her, my people”. All this has a present voice. These things are written to the churches and not to the remnant, and the voice is to us: “Come out of her”. Christians are to be free of her influence. We have to distinguish between the commercial system and articles of commerce; articles of commerce are creatures of God, and you can use them in righteousness. There is nothing in Babylon, as a system, that is righteous. It is a system evolved out of evil.
These things have a present application, for it is here on earth, that we have an idea of right and wrong, and we are being educated now to the end that we may see God’s judgments are true and right. Men have taken advantage of God’s gracious dealings, and they do not learn righteousness. God will come in in judgment, direct judgment. His direct dealings now are in the assembly. Christians learn righteousness as under the direct dealings of God. We are enabled to pursue a calling righteously. Articles of commerce are God’s creatures, but the point is to handle them righteously.
From the introduction of Paul’s ministry we have heavenly principles brought in, and the assembly is regulated by those principles. The book of Revelation contemplates a heavenly people; the earth-dweller is left for judgment. We should handle articles of commerce so that we might have food and raiment, that you might live righteously before God and men. Piety implies that the articles of commerce are God’s creatures, and therefore sanctified by the word of God and prayer. It is a triumph of Christianity that we are enabled to touch these things without being defiled.
Chapters 19 and 20 Chapter 19 is a triumphant chapter. For faith, chapter 12 is the beginning of the end. If the Man-child is received up, and heaven is cleared of evil, this is the guarantee that the earth shall be cleared. The twenty-four elders are in view here, referring to God’s dealings with man in the Old Testament as well as in the New. They have experience in the dealings of God; that is the idea of eldership. The living creatures are representative of creation made to live by the power of God through redemption. It is when God’s judgments are on the earth that the inhabitants learn righteousness. God is over-ruling things in the world, but in the assembly He lets nothing pass, everything is judged there. A Christian rules his house on that principle. Judgment begins at the house of God. Allowing things to pass brings in corruption. If the sin of Ananias and Sapphira had been allowed to pass, Satan would have succeeded in bringing in evil. If an individual lets things pass in himself it brings trouble. Revelation shows God intervening on earth to bring to pass His thoughts. These are wonderful chapters: you get remarkable expressions which show their extensive bearing. The [p. 306] opening part of this chapter shows how completely heaven is in accord with what God is doing on earth. “Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God”.
What brings out this ascription of praise is the knowledge and understanding, that “true and righteous are his judgments”. That is a great principle. If difficulties arise amongst us, “the just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not”, Zephaniah 3: 5. You are encouraged to leave things with God in that way. The true way is to commit a thing to the Lord, He brings judgments to light morning by morning. I have often thought of a court in session in this respect: every case is tried in turn, and if you have a case, it will come up. He bringeth judgments to light morning by morning; yours is sure to come; you will get right judgment. The smoke going up for ever and ever is to show how thoroughly things are judged. There is a standing testimony to God’s abhorrence of the evil of the system. The twenty-four elders fall and do homage, and say, “Amen, Alleluia!” The “Amen” shows a hearty assent to what God is doing; the “Alleluia” is praise. These things are now seen in the assembly.
In the conversion of a soul there is the breaking of the power of Satan: “Amen” is confirmatory of that, “Alleluia” is positive praise. We should ever be able to say “Amen” to what God does, and to praise Him for it. The marriage supper is now introduced, and “blessed are they who are called” to it. The Lord’s supper was instituted with evil outside it supposes a scene of evil outside. The marriage supper supposes the scene outside cleared of evil.
The Lord had taken things in hand, and now the scene is cleared for the marriage supper. The Lamb’s wife is there, and she has made herself ready. In [p. 307] Matthew 22 a certain man makes a marriage supper for his son; the son is in view and not the wife.
Here the wife is in evidence. She has made herself ready. It brings the assembly into evidence in appreciation of the Bridegroom. Righteousness is connected with that. It is given to her to be clothed in linen, pure and white. The fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints. Any one going on with the world is not in righteousness. God has given assurance that He will judge the world in righteousness. We should judge ourselves now. Righteousness is the fruit of the Spirit. The Lord brought in righteousness, He loved righteousness; the Holy Spirit brings that to pass in us. John says in his epistle, that if you practise righteousness, you are born of God. Nothing can be more important than the learning of righteousness. We have been brought into the school where righteousness is learned. Romans teaches righteousness.
The Lamb’s wife is clothed in “fine linen”. It is not flag or yarn, it is woven. The passage of the Red Sea refers to the death and resurrection of Christ, through which we are accounted righteous through faith in God, who raised Christ from the dead; but we have to learn righteousness, to practise it. We practise righteousness in the wilderness. We learn it there: the beginning of it is the water of Marah. God begins to teach righteousness there, and the first principle is that the flesh should not be ministered to, bitter waters typify that. If God had to judge it in Christ on the cross, He will not allow it in us. The end of that is that we see how bad the man is. The people spake against God, the God who had fed them and nourished them, and they spake against Moses, Christ in type. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”. This shows what prophecy is; it is not a thing to be despised or belittled; it is the testimony of that Man in contrast [p. 308] to all the so-called heroes that have prevailed in the world. The history of the world has manifested men with no regard for God; Jesus as Man is in contrast to them, and the spirit of prophecy is engaged with what Christ is.
What a Person Jesus is! That is the point to get into the soul. In principle it marks all prophecy. Look up, for instance, the history of the Assyrian and compare that with Jesus; that is the way to get at prophecy. Jesus is the very opposite to all that, and so the Babylonians, Persians and Greeks, the kind of men that rule in the world; compare them with Jesus. “The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus”. The force of it is that we suffer because we have the spirit of that Man. He was of no importance in the eyes of the world and so His life was taken from the earth. That life was the light of men, and prophecy would bring it in again. Philip preached Christ to the Samaritans, and he preached Jesus to the eunuch. If your soul is in the light of the anointed One it delivers you from the political order of things in the world, but the Man delivers you from men, however great they are.
We get here expressed in a few words the bringing to finality of everything that has to do with time.
We get things in heaven, in earth and under the earth; they are all concentrated upon one point.
Details that lead up to this and what follows are given us elsewhere, but here every issue of light and darkness are separated, one from the other, every issue of life and death, they are brought out and then separated eternally. It is the introduction of what is called the millennium, although that is not a word used in Scripture. It is here we get the specific term “one thousand years”. At the outset there is angelic power, not human, to bind Satan.
When it was a question of a key to unlock the kingdom it was committed to a man, to Peter, but when [p. 309] it is a question of putting under restraint the one who has deceived the nations, the power comes from heaven. There is no evidence of resistance on the part of Satan. Supreme power is in exercise. It is encouraging to see that there is power from heaven to handle such a being. Previously Satan had been cast out from heaven, never to return. The earth becomes the scene of his operations in a concentrated form of violence.
The great point here is that what is done, and the doing of it is by direct interposition of heavenly power, which at last comes to relieve the awful pressure of this present age. Then comes a complete Sabbath — rest and peace — with the Lord’s presence, but preliminary to that the deceiver of nations is put under restraint, at the time of the “restitution of all things”. But while evil is put under restraint the question of the nature of man is untouched; it is as with a wild beast, it may be tamed for a time, but its nature eventually breaks out if the opportunity arises.
We get a figure of this in the incident of the Lord in the country of the Gadarenes. He casts out the evil spirit from the man, and gives him deliverance, but there was no moral work, except for the one delivered. It is, there that the nature of man comes out, for they prayed Jesus to depart out of their coasts; so here, after the period of one thousand years, when temptations of similar character to those presented in the garden of Eden are again presented, men fall again. All this is clearly foretold in our passage. It will be no surprise to heaven or the saints in the final issue; there is nothing unforeseen.
There is no symbolic language used, the final expression of all the heading up of time is in the plainest and simplest language, so that he that runs may read.
[p. 310] In connection with the world to come, beside the removal of the deceiving power of Satan, the new covenant is established with Israel, and there is the diffusion of the knowledge of the Lord, but where there is not a moral work in the soul in that day there is no more effect produced than in this day.
In other words, it will be as true then as now that there must be a divine work in the soul in order to appreciate Christ. In the absence of that, while the powers of evil are withdrawn and man universally enjoys the beneficence and reign of blessing, when the old temptations return the old effect is reproduced where there is no work of God.