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Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 1

Section 5

Subsection 5: SYMBOLIC VISION OF THE SPIRIT-NAME

11. "His Voice as the Sound of Many Waters."


 
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In the tenth verse of this chapter, John informs us, that the first thing that arrested his attention, when he came to be "in spirit," was "a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last;" and in the fifteenth verse, he tells us, that the great voice was "as the sound of many waters."

Now, in this book, "many waters" is defined to be "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (17:15). This would give us the interpretation, that the voice of the Son of Man was the voice of a multitude; and that, consequently, the similitude was the symbol of a multitude -- a Multitudinous Son of Man. And this accords with the voice of Daniel's symbol, of which he testifies, that "the voice of his words was as the voice of a multitude" (10:6). Ezekiel, also in characterizing the noise made by the Wings of the Four Cherubim, says, "I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of many waters, as the voice of Mighty Ones (Shaddai) in their goings, the voice of speech, as the noise of a camp; in standing they let down their wings" (1:24). The meaning of this is, that Ezekiel heard the voice of a multitude of Mighty Ones, speaking as the warriors of a camp in

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motion against an enemy; and that when they were not in progress, their voice was not heard; "in standing they let down their wings," and consequently, there was no sound of war. The wings of the Ezekiel Cherubim, and the Man-like Similitudes of Daniel and John, in speaking, sounded forth as the roar of mighty waters. This was when they were in progress, advancing in body and wings their brazen-footed battalions against the Fourth Beast, or the apocalyptic Beast and False Prophet, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, -- the former utterly consumed in the furnace, or "lake of fire burning with brimstone," and the kings of the earth, and their armies slain with the sword of the resurrected and Glorified Mystic Man.

The multitude of mighty ones, apocalyptically denominated "the Almighty," is that great multitude referred to (7:9) as "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." These are the "many waters," when their work is done. Ezekiel heard "the voice of speech," and in uttering their great voice, some of the things they proclaimed are, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they exist, and were created" (4:11): and "Salvation to our Deity who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" (7:10: 5:14).

John likens the voice to the sound of a trumpet speaking, by which similitude it is connected with Paul's testimony, concerning the descent of the "Lord himself from heaven, with a shout, with a voice of an archangel, and with a TRUMPET OF DEITY." The Apocalypse of the Son of Man is an affair of trumpets. His manifestation is preceded by the sounding of six trumpets; and in the sounding of the seventh, and last, it is that the Saints are raised, and apocalypsed in clouds to meet their Lord the King.

The last period of the seventh trumpet is a momentous and terrible epoch in the world's history. It is the sounding of the voice of the Almighty Host, that is to make the world to tremble. Alluding to this, Isaiah says, "All the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, when He lifteth up an Ensign upon the mountains, tremble; and when He bloweth a trumpet, they shall hear" (18:3). The prophet tells us, that this is to be at the time when Israel shall be brought to YAHWEH Tz'vahoth, in Mount Zion, as a present, to the place of the Name of YAHWEH Tz'vahoth; which, as Jeremiah testifies, will at that time be called "the throne of YAHWEH" (3:17; Isai. 24:23).

This is the trumpet of Israel's restoration among other events. This

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is manifest from Isaiah 27:12,13, which says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that YAHWEH shall beat off from the channel of the river (uphrates) unto the stream of Egypt (the Nile), and ye shall be gathered to one another, O ye children of Israel. And it shall be in that day, that the GREAT TRUMPET shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to YAHWEH in the holy mount at Jerusalem." This great trumpet shall be blown, and Zechariah tells us by whom. In ch. 9:14, having told us previously, that Zion's Sons should be raised up to become a sword upon Greece, it is said, "And YAHWEH shall be seen over them, and his arrow (the Ten Tribes) shall go forth as the lightning; and ADONAI YAHWEH (Yahweh's Lords) shall blow the trumpet, and shall go forth with whirlwinds of Teman. YAHWEH TZ'VAHOTH shall defend them, and they shall devour, and disregard the stones of the sling." The trumpet blown is for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps; first, for the gathering of the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel; then for the convocation of all Israel; and thirdly, for war against their enemies -- the antitype of the Memorial of blowing of trumpets, and of the trumpet of the jubilee, on the first and tenth days of the seventh month (Num. 10; Lev. 23:24; 25:9). The Sons of Deity, His kings and priests, shall blow the trumpet, and proclaim, as the roar of many and mighty waters, to the inhabitants of the world, that they are "the Beginning and the Ending," "the Elohim of all the earth" (Isai. 54:5), the Eternal Spirit multitudinously manifest in flesh.

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