Revelation 11:18

Revelation 11:18. contains the second part of the song of praise, defining more accurately, and apparently in three particulars, the precise nature of the moment which had arrived, and of the events which distinguish it. The first of these particulars is, The nations were roused to wrath (comp. Psalms 2:1, and especially Revelation 20:3; Revelation 20:9). Instead of being converted at the last moment, the nations are excited to fiercer rage than ever against God. They are not merely angry against Him; that they had always been. They are roused to a sudden burst of wrath. Such is the true meaning of the original; and, thus looked at, the words before us really form an epitome of chap. Revelation 20:7-9. The second particular is, Thy wrath came, the wrath of God, so much more terrible than that of the nations. The third particular occupies the remainder of the verse, and seems again to be subdivided into three parts (1) The time of the dead to be judged. By ‘the dead' here we are not to understand all men both good and bad, but simply the latter; the judgment spoken of is not general, it belongs to the wicked alone. This appears from the use of the word ‘judge,' which is always employed by St. John to indicate only what is due to sin and sinners, as well as from the fact that the ‘giving reward' immediately described is obviously not a part of the judgment, but an independent member of the group of things here spoken of. (2) And to give their reward unto thy servants the prophets, both the saints, and them that fear thy name, the small and the great. Much difficulty has been experienced by commentators in their attempts to arrange these clauses. Without dwelling on the opinions of others, we suggest that the true arrangement is to take the first class mentioned, ‘thy servants the prophets,' as standing alone at the head of the group, and as including all those classes afterwards referred to. All God's people are prophets. As we have seen in the previous part of the chapter, they are ‘witnesses' who ‘prophesy;' they proclaim the Word of God to a sinful world (comp. Revelation 11:3). These prophets are then divided into two classes, ‘the saints,' and ‘they that fear God's name.' The two classes appear to be mentioned upon the principle of which we have already had several illustrations, that objects are beheld by the Seer in two aspects, the one taken from the sphere of Jewish, the other from that of Gentile, thought. ‘Saints,' or consecrated ones, was the name for all true Israelites. ‘They that fear God' was, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, the appellation constantly applied to Gentile Proselytes. No distinction is indeed drawn between a Jewish and a Gentile portion of the Church. Both are really one, but they may be, and are, viewed under a double aspect. The last clause, ‘the small and the great,' then applies to all who have been mentioned. While, therefore, the ‘dead' are ‘judged,' the children of God, the members of His believing Church, receive their ‘reward.' (3) And to destroy them which destroy the earth, where the lex talionis is again worthy of notice.