what important questions are connected with this comparison. On the discussion of the millennary question, at the conclusion of this work, it will be desirable to revert to it. But it is time to leave this preliminary vision, and proceed to the second and grand division of the Apocalyptic revelations. THE CHAPTER III. OPENING VISION OF THE HEAVENLY THRONE AND COMPANY, PREPARATORY TO THE REVELATIONS OF THE FUTURE. In the two preceding chapters of the Apocalypse, "the things that were," the state of the church then existing-had been described to the Evangelist. Then the voice ceased of Him that had been communing with him; and the scene passed from his view of the seven lamps and the heavenly High Priest that walked among them. It remained that the promised revelation should be made of things future, ά μελλει γίνεσθαι μετα ταυτα, the things which were to follow on the state then present of the church and of the world. And for this, another and higher scene was deemed suitable. The revelations to be made him were to be communicated to beings of a higher order also; that so "unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known, through (this prefigured history of) the church, the manifold wisdom of God." 2 So a door appeared open in heaven; and the voice which had before addressed him was heard again speaking, Come up, and I will shew thee what must happen hereafter." Then again he was in the spirit and he 2 Eph. iii. 10. 1 Apoc. i. 19. seemed to enter at the door: and a vision of heavenly glory, and a scene as of a new world, burst upon his view. The vision is thus described to us. "Behold a throne was set, and One sat on the throne. And He that sat was, to look upon, like a jasper and sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was a glassy sea, like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second like a calf, and the third had a face as a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him. And they were full of eyes within. And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those living creatures give glory, and honour, and thanks, to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."1 Thus the vision, like those of Isaiah and of Ezekiel,2 exhibited, as its first and grand object, Jehovah, King I have deviated from the authorized version in the above, in translating Opovo, thrones, instead of seats;-vaλivn, glassy, instead of glass;-and Swa, living creatures, instead of beasts. 2 Is. vi. 1. Ezek. i. 4. of saints, seated as Lord of all on the throne of the universe. It would seem that a cloud accompanied this revelation of God, just as in the Shekinah and other manifestations of the Divine presence; -the throne of glory rising (we may conceive) out of it, and the thunderings and lightnings, here and elsewhere spoken of in the Apocalypse, proceeding therefrom. Consistently with which that glassy sea, (as it were,2) like crystal, spread before the throne, (the space before, or in front of the throne, being the only part unoccupied, and therefore visible 3) may be explained, from other parallel Scriptures, as the sea of blue transparent ether in which the cloud floated. For a basement just similar is described as attached to the throne, both in the vision of Ezekiel, and in that seen by the Israelitish elders at Sinai. "There was the likeness," says Ezekiel,* " of a firmament; and it was as the colour of the terrible (or admirable) crystal; 5 and above the firmament was the likeness of a throne." And Moses,6 "There was under Jehovah's feet as it were a pavement of sapphire, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness : "-the heavenly firmament reflecting the glow of the sapphire throne immediately beneath it, but melting beyond into its clear and proper blue.7-Above was the Form 4" So in the way from Egypt to Sinai, Exod. xiv. 24, xvi. 10-at Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 16, 18;-in the tabernacle, Levit. xvi. 2;-in Solomon's temple, 2 Chron. v. 13, 14;-in Isaiah's vision, Isa. vi. 4; -in Ezekiel's, Ezek. i. 4; x. 3, &c. See also Psalm xviii. 12, &c. In the book of Sirach, xxiv. 4, the throne is spoken of as in the pillar of the cloud ; δ θρονος με εν στυλφ νεφελης. · ὡς θάλασσα ύαλινη Scholz. In which mark the ὡς. 3 Because the thrones of the elders, on either side of the divine throne, would there apparently hide the basement from view. 4 Ezek. i. 22-26. 5 A Note in the Pictorial Bible on this passage in Ezekiel, says that "the term , rendered terrible chrystal, seems to have been a term of preeminence for the diamond; which is indeed an admirable chrystal for its brilliancy and hardness." Exod. xxiv. 9, 10.—In the Septuagint translation of Ezekiel, the word for firmament is σTepewμa; answering nearly, as does also the word firmament, to this" pavement," or paved work," seen in the vision given to the Israelitish elders. 7 So Milton, P. L. vi. 757, after notice of the four Cherubim, as supporters of the chariot of God. of glory: "Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens." And, resembling as it did in colour the red jasper or sardine, there must doubtless have been something in the appearance very awful, as well as glorious. Nor without meaning. For, indeed, even under the Christian dispensation, "our God is (in his holiness) as a consuming fire." But there appeared round about the throne, as if to re-assure the Evangelist, a rainbow in which the soft green was predominant," in sight like unto an emerald,"-the well-known and lovely memorial of the covenant of grace.' And I think, too, the appearance of the seven lamps burning before the throne must have added encouragement. For, placed as they were before the Shekinah, it would be natural to identify them with the seven flames of the seven lamp-sconces of the sanctuary. And whereas these lamp-sconces had been declared the type of living churches, living be 2 Over their heads a chrystal firmament, Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure The epithet vain, applied to the firmamental expanse, like the English glassy, or Latin vitreus, is a word simply expressive, I conceive, of clearness and transparency; thus answering to the "body of heaven in its clearness," in the passage from Exodus. Compare Job xxxvii. 18; "Thou hast spread out the sky as a molten looking-glass."-To which, in illustration of the application of the word sea as a simile to the sky, let me add from Cowper's Task, Book V, "Ye shining hosts, That navigate a sea that knows no storms," &c. Indeed the liquid ether is, I need hardly observe, a common figure in various languages. Further the Psalmist's statement, "He layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters," may be also fitly compared: the waters there spoken of being interpreted by commentators to mean the firmamental waters. The explanation of the glassy sea above given is the same as Vitringa's: and he refers, in support of it, as I do, to the parallel visions in Exodus and Ezekiel. Many other commentators have explained it to signify the brazen laver, or sea, in the Jewish temple. But, first, the Evangelist is here describing what was in the inner sanctuary, not what was in the court without it. Secondly, it seems difficult to explain why, if the laver were meant, it should be represented as of glass, and not brazen.-I may add that there appears no allusion whatever to a laver, such as was in the ancient Jewish temple, in any of the apocalyptic visions. As regards the sea described in chapter xv. 2, there can be little doubt of its having no such meaning. Nor indeed can this latter be identified with the glassy sea here spoken of. For, as will be then again observed, both the article the is there wanting; (it being, "I saw a sea of glass," not "the sea," which it ought to have been, had a sea been intended spoken of before :) and further, it is described as mixed with fire; of which, as regards the sea here spoken of, there is not the slightest intimation. 1 Compare Gen. ix. 12-17, and Isa. liv. 9, 10. 2 Apoc. i. 20, Phil, ij. 15.-The word generally used for the temple candle. 4 : lievers, the seven flaming lamps were here interpreted to him as symbolizing the seven Spirits of God; i. e. as he elsewhere explains the phrase to us, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the blessed Trinity.' So that the symbol might seem to represent the two,- the Church and the Spirit,-as in God's eye associated together and not only to indicate that the holy life, affections, and aspirations of his people were ever before the Lord, but, also, that in them was recognized by Him the presence and the influence of His own Holy Spirit. And this indeed is precisely consonant with what we are told elsewhere. "He that searcheth the hearts," it is said, "knoweth, (in the aspirations thence arising) what is the mind of the Spirit." For it is He that maketh intercession both in and for the saints; and, as the Spirit of grace and of supplication, dwelleth, and acteth in them.2 But what the meaning of the twenty-four elders seated round the throne of the Deity ? And what of the four living creatures 3 yet more nearly surrounding it? We may be thankful that what is most essential to be known respecting these emblematic beings, in order to our right understanding of the Apocalypse, is expressly revealed to us. Whatever their distinctive characters respectively, both the one and the other were stick, or rather lamp-sconce, is λυχνια, for the lights thereof λυχνοι. But λαμπαδες and Avxvo may be regarded as nearly synonimous. 1 This seems the necessary inference from the association of these seven Spirits with the Father and the Son in chap. i, 4; "" 3 John to the seven churches which are in Asia, Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ," &c.—But for this we might have explained the seven lamps before the throne of seven angelic spirits; agreeably with the word seraphim, burning ones, and the figurative description in Heb. i. 7, "He maketh his angels a flame of fire." 2 Romans viii. 26, 27. See also Matt. x. 20; John xiv. 17, &c.-The numeral of the symbol here used, and derived, as I presume, from the seven lamp-sconces, to designate the usual influences of the Holy Spirit in the universal church, may be illustrated by considering how obvious a symbol twelve tongues of fire were to designate his miraculous communication to the twelve Apostles of the gift of tongues. See Acts ii. 3. 3 Ζωα. man. The word is one used by Clemens Alexandrinus in his Pædag. i. 8, of He calls him καλλισον και φιλόθεον ζωον. |