We must face difficulties; we must bow to the word; we must seek to learn through all. SHALL INHERIT ALL THINGS - Be an heir of God in all things. Round the city is a great high wall. Thus the name of Christ, not merely as the root and the offspring of David, but as the bright morning star, calls out responsively the heart of the church, and this too under the guiding activity of the Holy Ghost. But the church consists of souls called out from the earth, and is not of the world: consequently to the church the time is always at hand. This is accordingly traced in our chapter with considerable detail, and with the sorrow and vexation of all the different classes who on the fall of Babylon groaned over her destruction, and the loss of their wealth and enjoyment. a Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Lev. We had Babylon with a spuriously ecclesiastical but a really murderous character, and at the same time guilty of corruption with the kings of the earth. "And he said unto me, It is done. Afterwards we come to the description of itself, of its wall, its building, its foundations, and its gates. Holman Christian Standard Bible Then I God is the beginning and the end. Had those who preached said nothing about heathen vanities, had they merely presented the gospel as a better thing than anything the pagans could boast, I do not doubt that the pagans themselves would have acknowledged thus much. The word used for "light" is phoster ( G5458) . 23 The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine for it, for the glory of God illumines it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The common notion, therefore, that the coming of the Lord is at this point is an evident fallacy upon the face of this scripture that describes it, not to speak of others elsewhere. The wall is 144 cubits high, that is, 266 feet, not very high. Reference-Verse. That age of visible glory is inefficacious to change the heart of man, though in the absence of the enemy and the controlling presence of the great King, they render feigned obedience for a long while. Capnionis, which was used by Erasmus, and lately discovered after a long obscurity by Dr. Delitzsch, reads (not ) . There are thrones filled with certain persons, who reign along with Him. At the same time you will mark that these are not said to be executors of judgment as Christ is. Nations who never knew God will run to him ( Isaiah 55:5). THE GLORY AND THE SHAME ( Revelation 21:7-8 ), 21:7-8 "He who overcomes will enter into possession of these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. It will be cubed however rather than round and it will be fourteen hundred miles cubed.Now, if we lived dimensionally at that time, you know we live on the surface of the earth, but if you had a cube and we lived dimensionally, it is interesting to get out your pencil and notepad and figure how many square miles you could get in a cube that was fourteen hundred miles in each direction. The unbelieving are those who refused to accept the Gospel or those who with their lips accepted it, but by their lives showed that they did not believe it. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. One of the great contributions to the world's philosophical thought was Plato's doctrine of ideas or forms. Scholz's note ("rec. We find a decree going forth that all the world shall be enrolled. To the woman at the well He said, "If you drink of this water, you will thirst again, if you drink of the water that I give you will never thirst again"( John 4:13-14 ). He was a divine person, whatever new position He assumes for the world. In short, no testimony can avail, no work, power, or glory without the word of God applied by the Spirit of God. It is not now lightnings and thunders and voices. The ancient peoples hated the sea, even though, by the time of John, they were voyaging long and far. There may be lights of the heaven to mark times and seasons for the earth, and again on the earth. [practice magic arts; evil magic] . . (iii) There is another interesting possibility. In short, it is as we saw in Revelation 17:1-18, after Babylon had been brought before us in the course of the prophecy. Mark 4:40 Adj-NMPGRK: NAS: to them, Why are you afraid? Had he really penetrated under the surface, and seen that beneath the fair guise of Christendom the woman was, of all things under the sun, the most corrupt and hateful to God, it would not be so much to be surprised at. It is true that there is a strain of Jewish thought which expected the annihilation, or at least the enslavement, of the Gentiles; but there is much on the other side, and voice after voice speaks of the time when all men shall know and love God. It is all ours to enjoy to the fullest with Him. According to the general scope of scripture, then, we may be quite sure that these saints, kept during this universal dissolution of the atmospheric heaven and the earth, will be translated to "the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," in a condition new and meet for the eternal state into which they are ushered. This would not be fitting for the church nor the Christian. "I will raise him up at the last day." (i) More than once John insists that there will be no night in the city of God. Separate Line. The, nature of the case exempts of course the saints of the millennium;* and this very simply, because they are never said to die at all. Line-By-Line Order: Verse-Reference. Second, it was made to the son who was to inherit David's kingdom. The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the, former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give. Christians often discuss topics from the book of Revelation, including the Millennium, [5] a 1000-year period when Christ will rule the earth. "At the last day" does not mean merely an instant of time. John may simply have used the breast-plate as his model. And unbelieving; meaning not merely atheists, who do not believe there is a God, or deists only, that do not believe in Christ; but such who profess his name, and are called by it, and yet do not truly believe in him, nor embrace his Gospel and the truths of it, but believe a lie; these are condemned already, and on them the wrath of God abides, and they will be damned at last; though it may have a regard to such also who are infidels as to the second coming of Christ to judgment, and who are scoffers and mockers at it: and the abominable: every sinful man is so in the sight of God; but here it denotes such who are the worst of sinners, given up to sinning; who are abominable, and to every good work reprobate; who are addicted to the worst of crimes, as were the Sodomites and others; the Ethiopic version renders it, "who pollute themselves" with unnatural lusts. - DBSC, fearful -- [cowards] . WebVerse Revelation 21:8. The highest courage is to be desperately afraid and in spite of that to do the right thing and to hold fast to loyalty. "Called" is most evidently inapplicable, because calling supposes that the person is brought out of one condition and raised into another and a better one. It is likely that it was the equivalent of the modern sapphire. For the old Jerusalem, though we saw (Revelation 20:9, and note) that it is to be again a holy city in the last days as of old, will have passed away with the first earth. This is a mistake. The abominable Those who are polluted with unnatural lust. The Ascension of Moses (10: 6) says that the sea will return into the abyss. The woman the strange woman sets forth corruption, human nature indulging itself in its own evil desires, irrespective of God's will. He gets his power and they get theirs for one and the same time. The normal Greek word for "light" is phos ( G5457) , and phoster ( G5458) is normally the word used for the lights of heaven, the sun, the moon and the stars, for instance, in the Creation story ( Genesis 1:14). And it is pretty well ascertained that there was a discussion among them, even to the suggestion by one of the most wicked of their emperors, whether Christ should not be owned and worshipped in the Pantheon, hundreds of years before Constantine, indeed from the earliest epoch of the gospel. It is a question here of distinctive character, apart from that of time, for which we must search other scriptures. Here observe, (1.) Now there was nothing more repulsive and fatal to paganism in every form than the truth revealed in Christ, which exposed every thing that was not itself not the truth, definite and exclusive. And so he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal ( Revelation 21:9-11 ); So you see how light refracts in a crystal and the brilliance or in a diamond the refraction of light, the glorious colors that are coming forth from the new Jerusalem as it descends out of heaven to take its place of orbit around the new earth. It is a description, not of Babylon's relation to the beast, but of the city's fall, with certain dirges put into the mouth of the different classes that groan because of her extinction here below. God in His providence did sanction the great empires of old; and the principle continues as long as the church is here below. If there was any Gentile power since John's day, which did not sustain but persecute and suppress Jerusalem, it was Rome, instead of being a gaudy harlot mounted on that vast empire. We can fairly trust God that He will not give a worse place to Paul; yet I do not think that this is his place. see that it is in connection with the foregoing not merely His coming for us who will keep the sayings of it, but for those whom He will find here below "to give to each as his work is.". That, too, had been the dream of the prophets of the ancient days. It is not now the temple opened there, and the ark of the covenant seen when Israel's security is seen, as the object of God's counsels; nor is it a door opened above, as we saw it when the prophet was giving his introduction to the prophecy of God's dealings with the world as a whole, though in both cases all manifestly clusters round the Lord Jesus. A seventh should follow; and what is more, the seventh was in one aspect to be an eighth. Those who will not lay aside the evil of their ways are barred from the city of God. There is no greater honour in all the universe than that which God gives to the man who is true to him. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The gospel had been preached there, as she of Chaldea was not without law and prophet. Then follows the proclamation of the angel, and the invitation to the supper of the great God, to eat the flesh of all the great ones of the earth. They were judged every man according to their works. It will be understood when one says "spiritual" that none is meant save of a wicked kind. Babylon was the spurious church as long as it was a question of the church, and the final corrupter when it could be no question of this longer, and there went forth the closing testimony of God. "Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth.". Idolaters Those who offer any kind of worship or religious reverence to any thing but God. It is the eternal state; and also, in fact, the fullest description of that state which is furnished in the Bible. It is a precisely similar case here. Usually God is pictured as dwelling in heaven and people as dwelling on earth. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away." But in this is shown what it is of importance to see the true nature of the kingdom or millennial reign. fol. "Behold I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book." Line-By-Line Order: Verse-Reference. The angel least him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal over him, that he should no more deceive the nations, till the thousand years should be completed: after these things he must be loosed a little time.". Sometimes, again, they have sought to turn it aside toward Jerusalem in her corrupt state. The very name indeed shows something similar; not of course that the church can ever be earthly. It is very possible. [ 2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. But the graphic account does not end until the Spirit of God shows us another view of Babylon altogether. Thus the language of symbol is as definite as any other. It takes an equivalent power to hold the nucleus of an atom together that is released when the nucleus is unbalanced.Now, God who holds together the universe by the word of His power, and we are told this in the scripture; He created it by the word of His power and by Him all things are held together. If some few have joined on one side, some are sure to help the other, because they are jealous of any one acquiring such a preponderant authority: and power as to govern the rest. To bad surfers, but I am sure God will have something quite superior. And they said Alleluia a second time; and her smoke goeth up unto the ages of the ages." It was the destruction of the imperial unity of Rome that gave occasion for the well-known ten kingdoms which the barbarians set up afterwards. Then follows another scene still more solemn the most awe-inspiring of all we can contemplate, at the same time full of blessing for the Christian to look onward to as that which will for ever put aside every trace of evil, and vindicate good where man must altogether fail. We have seen her connection with the beast; but there is a conflict coming. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for, brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord. The account given of Babylon inRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18 does not follow Revelation 14:1-20 or Revelation 16:1-21 in point of prophetic time, but differs from them in structure. The beloved city is Jerusalem; the camp of the saints, I presume, is a larger circle and embraces all of Israel and the Gentiles who, being converted, refuse Satan's deceit. The angel implies nothing of the sort. The closing phrase here is the description of the beast in its last state, in which it will come into collision with Babylon. Separate Line. It may be that John wishes us to see that the servant of God does not choose his task but must do whatever God sends him to do, and must speak whatever word God gives him to speak. And in speaking it into existence, He spoke into existence a scientific puzzle. Who are the persons thus invested with judicial authority of so glorious a nature and to reign, as we see later, with Christ? CHAPTER 21 Revelation 21:1 . Instead of. Separate Line. Eze 48:3035 ) Tools Rev 21:9 Again, that it supposes Rome after it had professed the name of Christ I think is not to be doubted, if only from the expression "mystery" attached to Babylon. All and each of these. Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. It is Israel's task "to gather the righteous from among the Gentiles" (Testament of Naphtali 8:3, 4). It will be approximately the size of the moon. The decem-regal division of the broken empire in the West, as all know, was long after Rome had ceased to be heathen. This is never the case with an angel. Their misery helps to illustrate the glory and blessedness of the saints, and the distinguishing goodness of God towards them, Revelation 21:8; Revelation 21:8. The length, breadth and height were the same. The pulon could be either of two things. It was the barbarians who brought in the prevalent ideas of liberty as well as feudalism, and accordingly it is they that have firmly stood for freedom; so that all the efforts to reconstitute the empire which have been tried over and over again have hitherto issued in total failure. The natural meaning of the word would rather be poisoners; and in fact in St Johns days the two generally went together, and no line could be drawn between them. This fellowship with God in the golden age brings certain things. But there is one curious point. Verse 6 commends these sayings afresh. It is God's word of privilege to Israel: "I will give you for a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" ( Isaiah 49:6). It is a wholly unwarranted interpolation. The millennial nations, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," fall a prey to Satan. Separate Line. From deos (dread); timid, i.e. (John 5:24 compared with Romans 14:1-23 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-21.). They received their power as kings when the beast ceased to exist. (1) THE NEW JERUSALEM ( Revelation 21:2 ). The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that he was, and is not, and shall be present." 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. You would be amazed what fourteen hundred cubed becomes. "Let him that heareth," then, be encouraged to "say, Come." Let it be carefully observed here that the first resurrection does not mean all rising exactly at the same moment. And now the eternal state comes into view. We may illustrate it by the members of a family. A stade is very nearly a furlong; therefore, each side was 1,500 miles long, and the total area of the city was 2,250,000 square miles. And I heard the great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, [God is now going to dwell in the midst among His people.] King James Bible. But the fearful . 18 The building material of the wall was jasper, and the city was of pure gold like pure glass. Line-By-Line Order: Verse-Reference. But all this will be a great reversal of man's history and political maxims. This is most important, because it might be (as it has been) forgotten by some who make the gospel and the corresponding presence of the Spirit to be the same at all times; as others have thought, because Revelation 4:1-11 and sequel treat of Jew and Gentile, and the state of the world under God's judgments, that this cannot be a testimony of Jesus at all. Had it been simply a persecution from pagans, what was there to wonder at in their deadly hatred of the truth and of those who confess it? Thus the difference is complete between past history (if we look at the extinction of the empire and the rise of the ten kingdoms) and the certain fulfilment of the prophecy in the future, when we look at what God has really told us. Revelation 21:8 (KJV): But the fearful ,and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have In the midst of the broadway of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, [the] tree of life," bearing not merely as the original one did, but now according to the fulness of the provision of God's grace for man, for man in glory first, but for man on the earth also, but for man in glory "producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit: and the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations." Here you may see the reason for saying that the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures are not absolutely the church, because when that symbol applies, and the one of the bride comes forward, we have got others too. He has reserved the matter, though not without enough to guide our thoughts, as we have seen. But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death. "The Lord God is the temple of it, and the Lamb as far as we can speak of any. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 1:29-32; Galatians 5:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:2-5; cp. All is then fixed. God will renew his creation (2Esdr 7:75). These would appear to be (save Judas Iscariot, of course) the twelve apostles that were peculiarly associated with Christ in His suffering path on the earth. He is all in all. They shall bring 27 to it the glory and the honour of the nations; but nothing unclean shall enter into it, nor shall he who practises abominable things or uses falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It does not hinder, of course, that in the judgment of the dead each man is judged for his own sin. The topaz was a transparent, greenish-gold stone, very highly valued by the Hebrews. The spiritual power is wholly in the hands of the false prophet. Again there is symbolism here. We have already come upon this claim by the risen Christ in Revelation 1:8. Besides the bride thus arrayed, "He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb."
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