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Eureka

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

 

 

Chapter 10

III -- THE LITTLE OPEN SCROLL

Fourth Section of the Seventh Seal

"The Great Day of Ail-Shaddai"

 


 
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Summary

 

The son of Man similitude, seen by John originally, in the midst of the seven lightstands, reappears in this chapter. As the Lamb that had been slain, he saw him take the seven-sealed scroll then unrolled, and which no man could open or "see" (v. 6,7); but in this chapter, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to unroll the scroll, he sees him with a little scroll in his hand unrolled, or opened. He stands with his right foot upon the sea of the ten-horned dominion; and his left on the earth of the two-horned dragon power; burning with devouring fire: and roaring with the voice of a lion in the utterances of seven thunders; and in the annunciation, that there should be, chronically, no more time: but that in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, or third woe, the mystery of the Deity as he had declared the good to his servants the prophets, should be finished.

John, as a representative of his constituents, digests the little open scroll of seventh vial judgments. He is embittered in the execution of them, but sweetened by the results; for he executes on peoples, nations, tongues, and kings, the judgments written; and afterwards rejoices in "victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name."

See "Tabular Analysis," Vol. II, chap. v

 

TRANSLATION

Apoc. x.

 

1. And I saw another powerful angel descending out of the heaven, having been clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow upon the head, and his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.

2. And he had in his hand a little scroll which had been opened, and he placed his right foot upon the sea, and the left upon the earth, and he cried with a loud voice like as a lion roars: and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4. And when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice out of the heaven, saying, to me, Seal, the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to the heaven, and sware by him who lives for the aions of the aions, who created the heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that the time shall not be longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall sound, the mystery of the Deity shall also be finished, as he hath announced the glad tidings to his servants the prophets.

8. And the voice which I heard out of the heaven was again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the little scroll which has been opened in the hand of the angel who stands upon the sea, and upon the earth. 9. And I went to the angel, saying to him, Give to me the little scroll. And he saith to me, take and eat it up; and it shall imbitter thy belly, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.

10. And I took the little scroll out of the hand of the angel, and I ate it up; and it was in my mouth as honey, sweet: and when I had eaten it, my belly was imbittered.

11. And he saith to me, Thou must again prophesy against many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

 


 

EXPOSITION

 

The political death of the eastern Roman empire, and the transfer of its capital to the Ottoman Dynasty, interrupts the continuity of apocalyptic prophecy, as it did that of history. Having brought us down to the death of "the third," the historian informs us of the grief and terror of "the rest of the men who were not killed by the plagues of the second woe; and who changed not from the worship of the daemonials and idols;" and then bidding an everlasting farewell to the Greeks, carries the reader back over four hundred years to the consideration of the state of Rome, A.D. 1000.

Not so, however, with the apocalyptic prophecy. It does not carry us back in this tenth chapter. It leaves the Euphratean Ottoman angel-power in possession of the Dragon throne; and takes no further notice of it for upwards of three hundred and sixty years. At the end of this period, it again invites our attention to "the great river Euphrates" -- to the power so named, because it was the fourth angel "bound by the great river Euphrates," as it is bounded eastwardly at this day. Our attention is called to it in ch. xvi. 12, as to a sign in the heavens of the coming of the Son of Man; in other words, as to the sign of the approaching descent of the powerful angel out of the heaven, having the rainbow upon the head. The water of this Euphrates is said to be dried up in preparation of the way of the Kings of a Sun’s risings -- he hodos ton basileon ton apo anatolon heliou. The drying up of the water of a river is the destroying of the river; and consequently, of the power represented by the river. The fourth Euphratean angel-power, "the great destroyer," is itself doomed to destruction; and its decadence is a great sign in the political aerial of the approaching descent of the RAINBOWED ANGEL, out of the heaven; in other words, of the manifestation of the sons of the Deity, the future kings who shall rule the earth and sea.

This tenth chapter carries us forward in vision to this great crisis of the world; even to "that great day of the Deity who is All-powerful." "Behold," saith the Spirit, "I COME AS A THIEF" (xvi. 15). The rainbowed angel is the Spirit’s symbol in that coming. It represents him in that great day" -- "the great and terrible day of Yahweh;" when he shall "roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; and he shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel" (Joel ii. 31; iii. 16).

The time of this vision is the concluding period of that division of the seventh trumpet termed the "sixth vial." The rainbowed angel is developing "in his chambers, with his doors shut about him; and hidden as it were for a little moment" (Isa. xxvi. 20) under that vial; and before the gathering of the kings of the earth, and of the whole habitable into the place called in the Hebrew tongue ARMAGEDDON." From this obscurity he emerges, and descends with burning and destructive effect upon the nations of "the earth" and "the sea." His advent being before the conclusion of the sixth vial, he has all the work of the seventh vial as "his work before him" (Isa. xl. 10; lxii. 11). We are now living under the sixth vial, contemporarily with the drying up of the fourth Euphratean angel-power, and the diplomatic operation of the unclean spirits of daemons like frogs. The next event is the development of the powerful angel of this tenth chapter. It is therefore not in the past, as nearly all the commentators of the world imagine; among whom stands out conspicuously the author of the Horae Apocalypticae. But we need not waste time and space in the consideration of their theories. The things represented by the scene are yet future. We have, therefore, no historical illustration to offer. Hence, my business will be to analyze the symbols, and reduce them by the process to their literal signification, that we may know "what the Spirit saith," by the vision, "to the ecclesias."

But before proceeding to this analysis, I remark, that the position of this sceno-dramatic vision in the apocalypse is admirable. Having disposed of the Greek division of the apostasy by the death of its sovereignty; and having likewise by the first four trumpets previously eclipsed the luminaries of the Latin West -- the Spirit now sets strikingly before us, that all-powerful organization which will result from the Nave of the Deity opened in the heaven, with the ark of his covenant in the midst, as revealed in ch. xi. 19. In the eighteenth verse of this chapter, the resurrection of the saints, their judgment, and consequent recompense, are set forth. These, in their spiritual relations, constitute "the Nave," or the Most Holy Heavenly, within the veil; no longer flesh and blood, but spirit, as Jesus now is; for they are to be "like Him" (1 John iii. 2). Being thus identified with him, and "glorified together," and in the free reception of all things with him (Rom. viii. 17,52) only not equal to him in rank (Eph. i. 22; Col. i. 18) the saints are also "the ark of the covenant in the nave." This being all developed in the hidden chambers (Isa. xxvi. 20) into which the outer world has no admission, the doors being shut against it, they are apocalyptically "in the heaven," though standing upon the globe. In this secret place of the Highest, they are in preparation, or being prepared for manifestation -- for the epiphaneia and apokalupsis, epiphany and apocalypse, of Rom. viii. 19, and 2 Thess. ii. 8.

When thus prepared in the chamber under all the circumstances indicated in the phrase, "Behold I come as a thief" (xvi. 15), they stand forth in manifestation as the "powerful angel descended out of the heaven, clothed with a cloud; a rainbow upon the head; his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." This is the Strong Man of Psa. xix. 5; in other words, "the Spirit and the Bride" of Apoc. xxii. 17, who in this glorious manifestation are "one," as the head, and the body, and the life, are one. As a bridegroom, he will have come out of his chamber; and as a strong man he will rejoice for the race he has to run.

This all-powerful angel is not only strong, but he is a Man of War. Yahweh ish Milkhamah, says Moses; Yahweh shemo; "HE WHO SHALL BE is a man of War; YAHWEH is his Name (Exod. xv. 3). This angel of the tenth chapter is this same Yahweh-Warrior, styled in a multitude of places, Yahweh Tz’vaoth, HE WHO SHALL BE HOSTS. The "HE" is the Eternal Spirit "who created the heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein" (x. 6); and the "hosts," Jesus and his Brethren. The phrase is very incorrectly rendered in the English version, "the Lord of hosts;" but Yahweh does not signify Lord; nor is it in the construct case. It is absolute, and signifies simply, with Tz’vaoth, hosts, not of hosts. YAHWEH Tz’vaoth, is a title chosen by the Spirit to intimate that at a certain time appointed he would be apocalypsed in hosts. He has been manifested in One, styled "His Holy One" and "the Holy and the Just One" (Acts iii. 14); but he is also to be manifested in "hosts" of holy and just ones, after the same manner. This multitudinous manifestation of the Spirit by spirit is the basis of the symbols of the Apocalypse, as I have already shown in the first volume of this work. The Son of Man similitude is identified with multitude by "his voice," which is "as the sound of many waters" (i. 15); "many waters" in this book signifying "peoples and multitudes, nations, and tongues" (xvii. 15); hence Ezekiel, who saw the same hosts in symbol, speaks of the voice, or noise, as "the noise of great waters, as the voice of strong ones, shaddai, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host" (i. 24); and Daniel who saw the same multitude says, "the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude" (x. 6).

In the tenth chapter of the Apocalypse are set forth these seen of Ezekiel, Daniel, and John, as the rainbowed angel. He is herein ready for action -- the strong and mighty warrior prepared for combat with the Man-Image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream. Here, then, are two men, representing two belligerent powers -- the one, that of the Kingdom of Men; the other, that of the Kingdom of the Deity. Nebuchadnezzar’s Image was the aggregation into one symbolic man, of a multitude of powers contemporary with many generations; so this one powerful angel is an aggregation into One Body, named Yahweh Tz’vaoth, of all saints accounted worthy of co-operation with the Lord Jesus in the execution of "the judgment written." "Judgment," says Daniel, "was given to the saints;" and this rainbowed angel is their symbol, representing their aspect in the possession of judicial power, and ready to "destroy them who corrupt the earth" (xi. 18).

This, then is the "ALL-POWERFUL LORD GOD, who is, and was, and is to come" (xi. 17); in "the Omega" and terminal manifestation of the Eternal Spirit. This manifestation is yet in the future -- it is "to come;" and therefore, it is spoken of in ch. xvi. 5, as one that "shall be;" for "Shall be is his name" -- Yahweh shemo.

The symbol of these "hosts" is styled "an angel," because the Spirit incorporate in them has a mission; which is to "take the kingdom, and to possess the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven" (Dan. vii. 18,27); or, as it is expressed in Apoc. xi. 15, "the kingdoms of this world," that they may be the kingdoms of this powerful angel, styled there, "our Lord and his Christ" or YAHWEH ELOHIM.

 

 


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