[5] As He is here called 'the first-begotten of the dead, the Prince of the
12. Seven thousand, Revelation 11:13. 13. Seven heads, Revelation 12:3; 13:1 14. Seven crowns, Revelation 12:3. 15. Seven last plagues, Revelation 15:1, 6,8. 16. Seven golden vials, Revelation 15:7; 17:1. 17. Seven kings, Revelation 17:10. [5] As He is here called 'the first-begotten of the dead, the Prince of the
kings of the earth,' so in the 89th Psalm He is called 'the first-born, Higher than the kings of the earth,' as if John were here taking us back to the Psalmist's words, as he does also in the words 'faithful Witness' (Psalm 89:37). [6] The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended' (Psalm 72:20). 'My
reins are consumed within me' (Job 19:27); that is 'My longings are exhausted here.' 'These be the last words of David' (2 Samuel 23:1); that is, this is the summing up of all David's words,—their alpha and omega. [7] For the meaning of this expression, see Numbers 11:26, Ezekiel 2:2,
3:12, 14, Matthew 22:43, 1 Corinthians 14:2, Revelation 4:2. The expression 'the Lord's day' is the first day of the week, not the day of Christ's coming—that is expressed differently. [8] Let me enumerate the different things mentioned in the Apocalypse that are made of gold:—
(1.) The candlesticks, 1:12, 20; 2:1 (2.) The girdle of the Son of Man, 1:13 (3.) The girdles of the seven angels, 15:6 (4.) The crowns of the twentyfour elders, 4:4 (5.) The vials full of odors, 5: 8 (6) The censer of the altar-angel, 8:3
(7) The altar before the throne, 8:3
(8) The crown on the head of the Son of Man, 14:14
(9) The vials full of the wrath of God 15:7
(10) The cup of Babylon, 17:4
(11) The reed for measuring the city, 21:15
(12) The street of the city, or New Jerusalem, 21:15
(13) The city itself, 21:18
[9] The word angel occurs seventy-six times in the Revelation; and in all passages, save those eight in connection with the Churches, it means a heavenly messenger. There is no reason for making it anything else in these eight instances. The angels are the bearers of the messages from John to the Churches. Christ speaks to John; John writes and sends the message by angels. How else could he do it in Patmos? It is not the angel that is addressed in the epistles. It is the Church to which he bears the epistle. [10] If they have drunk of Christ's cup, and tasted the bread of His table, it is not with them as in time past. They have a portion in destinies which other men have not; and as having destinies, they have conflicts also. They came for a blessing, and they have found a work. They find that their lot is changed,—that, in one shape or other, adversity happens to them. One blow falls,—they are startled; it passes over—it is well. They expect nothing more. Another comes,—they wonder. Why is this? They ask. They think that the first should be security against the second. Then a third comes,—they almost murmur. They have not yet mastered the great doctrine that endurance is their portion. Is not this the law of thy being since thou camest to Christ? Why didst thou taste His heavenly feast, but that it might work in thee? Why didst thou kneel beneath His hand, but that He might leave on thee the print of His wounds? Why wonder, then, that one sorrow does not buy off the next? Does one drop of rain absorb the second? Does the storm cease because it has begun? Understand thy place in God's kingdom, and rejoice, not complain,—that in thy day thou hast thy lot with prophets and apostles. Envy not the gay and thriving world. The
church ever suffers in maintaining her ground. She fights, and she suffers in proportion as she plays her part well; and if she is without suffering, it is because she is slumbering. [11] The frequency with which the connective particle and occurs in the Apocalypse ought to be noted. In this short chapter it will be found nearly sixty times. It is difficult to give its exact force in each case; but its very frequent occurrence gives the idea of rapidity and vehemence in the speaker or writer. This book is like the rush of a whirlwind. 'Shortly' and 'quickly' are its key-notes. [12] The word 'altar,' used alone, seems always to denote the brazen altar. The inner altar is distinguished by a suitable designation,—'golden altar,' or 'altar of incenses.' In this passage, and in chapter 8, both altars seem referred to, as if brought into juxtaposition; so that the angel stands at the brazen altar first, and then takes the fire from it to fill his censer, and goes with it to the 'golden altar before the throne.' [13] See Hebrews 11:39, 40, where the apostle shows that the hope of the Old Testament saints was the same as the New; only they were to wait till their New Testament brethren were gathered in. The words may thus be paraphrased: 'These all, although they obtained a good report through this faith of theirs, yet did not receive the things promised ('things hoped for,' verse 1), God having laid up in store that better thing (to which they were looking) for us, that they without us should not be perfected.' Thus all the saints, from Abel downward, are to be crowned together, as the one great family of faith. Simultaneous entrance into the one glory is the truth with which the apostle sums up this marvelous summary of the faith of the ancient saints, into whose privileges and hope we in these last days have entered. They were the men of whom the world was not worthy; while we in this age lag far behind,—some of us, it may be, only to be saved 'so as by fire,' instead of having the abundant entrance which these ancient worthies are to obtain.
[14] The fire of the altar, here said to be poured out upon the earth, is the symbol of God's holy wrath against sin. As long as it was confined to the altar, earth was safe; for the altar is the place of substitution, and there the divine displeasure exhausts itself upon the substitute. But when it leaves the altar, and is poured out upon the earth, then the vengeance against a sinful world has begun. 'Our God is a consuming fire.' There was only fire upon one altar, viz. the brazen altar, or altar of burnt offering. This is that referred to in verse 5, as distinct from the golden altar in verse 3. Fire not only consumes the victim, but it extracts the fragrance from the incense. The fire of the one altar draws forth the fragrance of the other. [15] 'blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us;' or, 'having cancelled the bond which was against us, with all its covenants (or attestations), which was hostile to us, has taken it away out of the midst, having nailed it to the cross.' [16] To disconnect the satisfaction of Christ from His death, and to transfer it to something beyond that death, such as His entrance into heaven, was the object of the old Socinians, Crellius and Biddle, against whom Owen wrote his elaborate Vindicia Evangelica, in which occurs the following sentence: 'Christ entered by His own blood into the holy place inasmuch as, having shed and offered His blood a sacrifice to God, with the efficacy of it He entered into His presence to carry on the work of His priesthood in His intercession for us; as the high priest, having offered without (in the outer court) a sacrifice to God, entered with the blood of it into the most holy place, there to perfect and complete the duties of his office in interceding for the people' (Works, vol. 12. P. 407). To substitute inherent for imputed righteousness, was Edward Irving's aim in the writings of his last six years. Thus he writes: 'I wish instead of the word imputed were continually substituted inherent but derived' (Pref. To Conf. P. 138). 'The church never meant to assert that because it was of Christ's working out for us and of God's serving out to us, it was not therefore true righteousness, heart righteousness, righteousness in the inward parts and in the outward also; holiness of body, and holiness of soul…She never meant to convey by the word imputed that the righteousness was only skin-deep,
or, if we may so speak, cloakdeep…Faith embodies Christ in the believer, and Christ in the believer is a body of holiness, a complete man of holiness, an inward and an outward man, as well as a garment' (on the Revelation 5:2, p. 889). To withdraw justification from the cross and deposit it in the sacraments has always been the object of Romanists and High Churchmen. Only, in addition to this, Newman would connect it with resurrection: 'We are declared, pronounced, dealt with as righteousness, through our resurrection unto holiness in the Spirit' (Parochial Sermons, vol. 5. p. 159); and in his Lectures on Justification, published in 1838, he has a whole lecture on Romans 4:25, entitled 'Christ's Resurrection the Source of Justification' (p. 233). In all these ways the cross of Christ has been made of none effect, and the blood of Christ trodden under foot, and the life of Christ rejected as nonvicarious. Under the pretext of magnifying Christ in us, men have altogether denied Christ for us. Under the plea of not approaching God under false colors, men have in various ways refused substitution, and supplanted imputation by infusion, or communication of righteousness, either from the Holy Spirit, or from the resurrection of Christ. It was reserved for recent years to combine (in a mystical formula of spiritual sentimentalism) all these subversions of the cross into one theory of 'justification in a risen Christ,' and instead of the glorious doctrine of God 'justifying the ungodly,' to give us the worse than Socinian heresy of God justifying us, not as ungodly, but as new creatures, thus making regeneration our title to acceptance, and not the righteousness of Him who was made sin for us. This new form of perfectionism supersedes all necessity for our judicial acceptance; for the holiness poured into us out of a risen Christ renders us independent of the blood, and places us, as partakers of this derived and infused sinlessness, in a position where confession of sin is no longer needed; where the conscience is kept pacified by the consciousness of internal perfection, and where the glorying in the cross is exchanged for glorying in resurrection. If this be true, the 'it is finished' of Calvary was premature: it ought to have been deferred till after resurrection.
The seventh chapter of the Romans is a stumbling block to the inventors of this theory; and rather than adopt the experience of that passage, they condemn the apostle, in uttering it, as a backslider. They apologize for him by showing that he got out of the seventh into the eighth chapter, though how he got out of the sixth into the seventh they do not explain. 'Evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.' The process by which men slide from the rock, and lay for themselves another foundation, is very subtle and often almost imperceptible; but it is not the less perilous and evil. When the conscience shall awake from its dream of resurrection-perfectionism, how terrible will be its remorse for the slighted cross! and how eagerly (if not too late) will it then betake itself to the undervalued sacrifice! In the searching light of the throne, the deluded perfectionist will be but too glad to appear in what he now calls fictitious colors, and to take his place under the shadow of the cross, 'dressed in beauty not his own.' 'Had I an angel's holiness, I'd lay aside that beauteous dress, And wrap me up in Christ.'
Jehovah-Zidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, is our refuge here; and it is according to His excellency that God deals with us and will deal with us for ever. That excellency cannot fail. Its efficacy is everlasting, knowing neither change nor decay. Blessed is he who, believing the divine testimony concerning it, goes to God, in the assured consciousness, that all that excellency has become judicially and righteously his own. [17] Some among us, ignorant of Scripture, tell us that the ancient Jews were not strangers, and had no heavenly calling,—that these things are the portion of the New Testament Church alone. [18] The resurrection of Christ must no doubt be kept in view. We preach a risen Christ; and in His resurrection we see God's acceptance of His substitution, and the assurance of our justification by that work which
resurrection sealed, as having been finished by the death of the Substitute. But still what follows the cross and the death, is not part of the sacrificial work, but the result of it. It may be well to note the different effects relating to the believer, which God connects with the death of His Son;— (1.) Death unto sin (1 Peter 2:24).—He bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might be 'dead to sins.' (2.) Life unto righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).—Our new life unto righteousness is thus traced to the sin-bearing work upon the tree. The apostle links this life with the cross. (3.) Healing (1 Peter 2:24).—'By whose stripes ye were healed.' From the cross flow the medicine and the health, as the cure did from the brazen serpent. (4.) Reconciliation (Romans 5:10).—'Reconciled to God by the death of His Son.' In the 9th verse we are said to be justified by His blood (not by His resurrection); in the 10th we are said to be reconciled by His death. (5.) Destruction of Satan (Hebrews 2:14).—Through death, He destroyed him who has the power of death. The cross is the destruction of the devil. (6.) Deliverance of the troubled (Hebrews 2:15).—'To deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.' This is a very remarkable passage, as showing the power of the cross, not only in abolishing death and him who had the power of death, but in so bringing life and immortality to light, that troubled souls in bondage by fear of death are set free. This deliverance is confirmed to us by His resurrection, but it is His death that secures it. (7.) Redemption of transgressions (Hebrews 9:15).—As Mediator of the new covenant, He dies, and by this death there is the 'redemption of the transgressions under the law.'
(8.) The promise of eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15).—This death has reference to them that are 'called.' To them, through the death of the Mediator, the promise comes, and through the same death inheritance comes. (9.) Eternal life with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:10).—'Who died for us, that we should live with Him.' His death and our resurrection-life are thus linked together. These are some of the many passage relating to the death of the Substitute. From these we learn the value and the power of that death as securing pardon, righteousness, and acceptance. Justification in and by a crucified Christ is the clear testimony of Scripture. The blessings flowing out of resurrection, and ascension, and intercession, are not for a moment to be lost sight of; but in so far as representation, or substitution, or acceptance is concerned, we have to do directly with the blood and the cross. The sweet savor of the sacrifice is that which envelops us so as to make us acceptable and well pleasing to God. Of that sacrifice (as in the case of Noah) God smells the sweet savor; and because of that He deals with us as righteous, honours us as precious, and blesses us as sons. The divine preciousness of that sacrifice as satisfying justice, honouring god, magnifying the law, suffices to procure for us, by its imputed value, what did not belong to us, and what nothing else could have given. That which satisfies righteousness is that which constitutes us righteous. It was the death, not the resurrection of Christ that both declared and satisfied the righteousness of God that proclaimed both the condemnation and the acquittal of the sinner. Yet there are some in our day calling themselves Christians to whom the cross is a stumbling block, who tell us that the cross was not the place of atonement, who reject imputation as unreality or a falsehood, and who profess to go to God on the footing of an infused resurrectionrighteousness. Thus have men ceased to glory in the cross; nay, have made it of none effect. They have little sympathy with him who said, 'I have determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified' (1 Corinthians 2:2).
[19] The 'Church' is rapidly becoming a province of 'the world'. Christians
(so-called) form the greater part of every ballroom company; ministers and elders endorse the gaiety by their presence; Christian parents reckon dancing a necessary part of education; and even religious boarding-schools have their regular dancing parties! Thus the young are trained by their teachers and encouraged by their parents to be 'lovers of pleasure.' Balls, operas, oratorios, theatres, and such-like are no longer forbidden things to the followers of the Lamb! Refined worldliness is the present snare of the Church of God. Christian parents! For which of the two worlds are you training your children? For this world, or that which is to come? Be assured that the same training will not do for both. Teachers and guardians of the young, beware of giving those entrusted to you a taste for the world's gaieties! 'Love not the world;' teach not your pupils or wards to love it. Keep them 'unspotted from the world.'
[20] The Greek word (άβνσσος) is unfathomable, boundless, bottomless. It
occurs frequently in the Old Testament, referring to the depths underneath. Genesis 1:2, 'Darkness was on the face of the abyss;' 7:2, 'All the fountains of the abyss were broken up;' 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:7; Job 28:14, 38:16, 30; Psalm 33:7, 36:6; Proverbs 3:20, 8:24; Ezekiel 26:20, 31:4, 15. Thus it is used to mean a vast deep place, generally underneath the ground. So in the New Testament— Luke 8:31; Romans 10:7; Revelation 9:1, 2, 2, 11:7, 17:8, 20:1, 3. [21] See Isaiah 24:21, 22—There is described the punishment of 'the host
of the high ones on high,' 'the principalities and powers, the spiritual wickedness in high places.' 'They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days (a thousand years) shall they be visited.' [22] There are two comings, two judgments, and two resurrections. The
double resurrection is referred to in Isaiah 26:14, 19, and in Daniel 12:2, which is to be thus rendered: 'Many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake; these (the awakers) are for everlasting life; and those (the non-awakers) are for shame and everlasting contempt.' See Hebrews 11:35; Isaiah 25:8; Hosea 13:14; Luke 14:14, 20:35, 36; John 5:29; 1 Corinthians 15:52; Philippians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:16. [23] This cannot mean that they are raised in order to be annihilated. The
resurrection of the wicked is inexplicable upon the annihilation theory. [24] Isaiah 55:2; 'satisfieth,' here used for quenching the thirst with water,
as Proverbs 30:16, Isaiah 58:2, 66:2, Jeremiah 46:10. [25] This was a communion sermon, preached at Kelso on Sabbath,
September 25, 1864, our last Sabbath in the church where we had worshipped for twenty-seven years. [26] This passage proves that the millennial and still imperfect earth is
referred to in the two concluding chapters of Revelation. The prophecy, like many Old Testament ones, is double,—embracing two conditions of earth very much akin to each other: the first imperfect, the second perfect; one description answering both, but requiring spiritual discernment to discriminate the details, and to separate the one from the other. [27] I leave untouched the question of the various reading, 'Blessed are they who wash their robes.'
[28] This grace or free love was Luther's perpetual theme; and it was by
his urging this so strongly (and, as some would say, unguardedly) that he has laid himself open to the attacks both of Romanists and Protestants. In one of his early letters to Melancthon (A.D. 1521) the following paragraph occurs:— 'Si gratiae praedicator es, gratiam non fictam sed veram praedica; si vera gratia est, verum non fictum peccatum ferto. Deus non facit salvos ficte peccatores. Esto peccator et pecca fortiter; sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo, qui victor est peccati mortis et mundi; peccandum est quamdiu hic sumus. Vita hic non est
habitatio justiciae, sed expectamus, ait Petrus, coelos novos et terram novam, in quibus justicia habitat. Sufficit quod agnovimus per divitias gloriae, Dei agnum qui tollit peccatum mundi.' This letter is not found in the early editions of his works. We quote it from the volume intituled 'Epistolarum Revelation patris D.D. M. Lutheri, tomus primus, a Joanni Aurifabro.' Avr. 1556. Jhenae. It was found in the library of Spalatinus, and is dated from 'Patmos' (the castle of Wartzburg). It occupies, as we now have it, about five quarto pages, and is of a somewhat miscellaneous character, discussing confession, vows, celibacy, 'both kinds,' grace and sin. It is in answer to a letter of Melancthon (which is not extant), apparently—about the fictitious sins of the Papacy,—i.e. things which Popery had made sins (neglect of feasts and ownership of saints, etc.), and which lay heavy on many a halfenlightened conscience in these days, while real sin was overlooked, and men were made to go to God confessing unreal sins and neglecting real sins. Luther says: Away with such fictions and fictitious confessions. In dealing with God, be what you really are, and bravely confess it. 'Be a sinner, and sin bravely;' which does not mean what Bossuet represented it as meaning, 'Go on sinning,' but 'Speak out boldly as a sinner, hiding nothing; come out with all your sins to Him, whose grace is sufficient for all sins, though they be thousands, and millions; go to Him with real sins, and be not afraid to go to Him as what you really are.' Luther's idea of the grace or free love of God was, that it was as boundless as it was free, and that the only thing which could hinder or straiten it would be attempts on our part at cowardly palliations of our guilt; confessions which only confessed the half, instead of the whole; which confessed unreal or fictitious guilt, and weakly or ignorantly concealed the true. It concludes with these memorable words: 'Ora fortiter, es enim fortissimus pecctor.'