INTRODUCTION TO REVALATION 14 This chapter contains three visions; one of the Lamb on Mount Zion, another of the three angels preaching against Babylon, and the third of the harvest and vintage. The vision of the Lamb is in Revelation 14:1, which is no other than Christ, described by his similitude... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I LOOKED, AND, LO, A LAMB,.... The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read "the Lamb"; the same that had been seen before in, the midst of the throne, Revelation 5:6; and all the Oriental versions have the same article also; the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for mention is made of his Fathe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HEARD A VOICE FROM HEAVEN,.... The same with the voices heard in heaven upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11:15; AS THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS; very loud, and uttered by a great multitude of people, signified by waters in this book, Revelation 17:15; the same with those that... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SUNG AS IT WERE A NEW SONG,.... The song of redeeming grace; the same with that in Revelation 5:9; see the note there: this is to be understood of the 144,000, who sung it BEFORE THE THRONE, AND BEFORE THE FOUR BEASTS AND THE ELDERS; that is, publicly in the church, the ministers and membe... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THEY WHICH WERE NOT DEFILED WITH WOMEN,.... With the whore of Rome, and her harlots, she is the mother of; while the kings and inhabitants of the earth were drunk with the wine of their fornication, or committed idolatry with them, which is spiritual fornication, and is here meant by being... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THEIR MOUTH WAS FOUND NO GUILE,.... Or "a lie", as the Complutensian edition, the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions read; by which may be meant idolatry, for idols and idolatrous practices are often called lies, and lying vanities; see Jeremiah 16:19; and the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW ANOTHER ANGEL,.... This is to be understood not of one of the ministering spirits so called; for though wings are sometimes ascribed to angels, and Gabriel is said to fly swiftly; and though they desire to look into the mysteries of the everlasting Gospel, yet the preaching of that is not... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE,.... These ministers shall lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud, and deliver out the Gospel fully and faithfully, with great authority and power, and with much vehemence, zeal, and fervency: FEAR GOD; or "the Lord", as some copies, the Vulgate Latin and Arabic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE FOLLOWED ANOTHER ANGEL,.... A "second", as the Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, and the Syriac version add; and the Arabic version reads, "and the second angel followed"; another set of Gospel ministers, who will immediately follow upon the former, proclaiming the fall of Babyl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM,.... The two preceding ones, and that very quickly; by whom is meant not Luther, and his associates in the Reformation, as some think; nor his successors, or the ministers of the Gospel in general from his time till Christ's second coming, as others have thought; bu... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME SHALL DRINK OF THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF GOD,.... Which is a just punishment for their sin; that as such have drank of the wine of the wrath of Rome's fornication, Revelation 14:8 so they shall now drink of the wine of God's wrath; it is usual in Scripture to express the punishment God infli... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SMOKE OF THEIR TORMENT ASCENDETH UP FOR EVER AND EVER,.... That is, the smoke of that fire which torments them will for ever arise; or, in other words, there will be no end of their torment; hence their misery is called everlasting fire, everlasting punishment, and everlasting destruction, M... [ Continue Reading ]
HERE IS THE PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS,.... That which has required their patience, and about which it has been exercised, what they have been patiently waiting for, namely, the destruction of antichrist; and now it will be come, and patience will have its perfect work; see Revelation 13:10 HERE ARE TH... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HEARD A VOICE FROM HEAVEN,.... Like that which was heard at Christ's baptism and transfiguration, certifying the truth of what follows, so that that may be depended upon as an undoubted verity: SAYING UNTO ME, WRITE; which is a further confirmation of the following sayings being true and fait... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I LOOKED, AND BEHOLD A WHITE CLOUD,.... In this verse is a description of the person principally concerned in the harvest of the earth, hereafter mentioned; by whom is designed not some great potentate or prince, an encourager of the Reformation among his subjects; nor an angel in an human shape... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ANOTHER ANGEL CAME OUT OF THE TEMPLE,.... Not the Holy Spirit, who, being God omniscient, knows the day and hour of judgment, which is a secret to men and angels, as Napier thinks; since though he dwells in the church as his temple, yet is never called an angel; nor does this angel represent the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE THAT SAT ON THE CLOUD THRUST IN HIS SICKLE ON THE EARTH,.... He put forth, and made use of that power which he had in his hand, in answer to the entreaty of the angel, the time being fully come which was fixed for this great event: AND THE EARTH WAS REAPED; and the harvest of it was got in;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ANOTHER ANGEL CAME OUT OF THE TEMPLE WHICH IS IN HEAVEN,.... It is a strange conceit of Mr. Brightman's, that this angel is Thomas Lord Cromwell, in the days of King Henry the Eighth, a sincere favourer of pure religion; and that the following angel is Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ANOTHER ANGEL CAME OUT FROM THE ALTAR,.... Where are the souls of the martyrs of Jesus, Revelation 6:9 and whom this angel is thought by some to represent, in his address to him that had the sharp sickle, crying for vengeance on the wicked of the earth, who had shed their blood: the allusion see... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGEL THRUST IN HIS SICKLE INTO THE EARTH,.... Before "upon the earth", when the harvest was gathered in, the wheat being on the earth, but not belonging to it; but here "into the earth", the vine being the vine of the earth, rooted in it, and natural to it: AND GATHERED THE VINE OF THE EAR... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WINEPRESS WAS TRODDEN WITHOUT THE CITY,.... The beloved city, the new Jerusalem, into which none of the wicked will enter, and without which are dogs, c. Revelation 20:9. The allusion may be, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, to the olive presses, which were without the city of Jerusalem, from whence... [ Continue Reading ]