AN EXPOSITION OF REVELATION IV.-XXII. PART V.

THE VIALS OF WRATH. (Chap, 15:, 16:)

The Character of the Judgment Coming.(Chap, 15:)

The visions of the last chapter plainly reach to the end of judgment in the coming of the Lord Himself. The vials, therefore, cannot come after these or go beyond them :in fact, the coming of the Lord is not openly reached in them, though it may seem implied, for in the vials is filled up the wrath of God. But the coming of the Lord, although necessary to complete the judgment, is yet so much more than this, that it would seem even out of place in a vial of wrath. In the fourteenth chapter, where it is the Lamb's answer to the challenge of the enemy, He does indeed appear :He comes out Himself to answer. But in this also there is more than judgment. The manifestation of Antichrist is met by the manifestation of Christ, as the day antagonizes and chases away the night; but the day then is come. In the vials there is simply the destruction of the evil; and while the previous visions classify in a divine way the objects of wrath, the vials give us rather the history in detail,-the succession of events; though this, of course, like all else, has divine meaning in it. All history has:the difficulty is, with what is common history, to get the facts distinctly and in proportion, which the inspiration of Scripture-history secures for us. But along with this, we have here, what is obscured so much to men, heaven's action in earth's history; and heaven is acting in a more direct manner now that the end is at hand, and the wrath stored up for many generations is to burst upon the earth at last.

" And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous,-seven angels having seven plagues-the last; for in them is finished the wrath of God."

The one bright word here is "FINISHED." For the earth at large, it is indeed so. Judgment comes, as we shall see, at the close of the millennium, upon a special, though, alas ! a numerous class ; but it is, nevertheless, not earth that rebels, nor can the hand that holds the scepter be any more displaced. How the voice of the "everlasting gospel" sounds in that word, "finished"! But in proportion as the judgment is final now, so must it be complete, conclusive. All limitations are now removed :the rod of iron thoroughly does its work. As in the Lord's answer to His disciples' question as to this very period :"Wheresoever the carcass"-the corruption that provokes God's anger-" is, there will the eagles be gathered together."

But first-and this is the style of prophecy, as we have seen,-before the judgment strikes, the gathering clouds are for a moment parted, that we may see, not the whole good achieved, but the care of God over His own, who in this scene might seem to have found only defeat and forsaking. Only one righteous Man was ever really forsaken. And we are permitted to see how, in fact, He has but hidden in His own pavilion, from the strife of men, those who amid the battle drop down and are lost to sight. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass, mingled with fire; and those that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name, standing upon the sea of glass, having harps of God. they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ' Great and marvelous are works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy
Thou King of ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest.'

The sea of glass answers to the brazen sea-the laver of the temple ; but it is glass, not water :purification is over, with the need of it; the fire mingled with it indicates what they have passed through, which God has used for blessing to their souls. That they are a special class cannot be questioned,-martyrs under the beast, who have found victory in defeat, and are perfected and at rest before the throne of God.

They sing a mingled song-of Moses and of the Lamb, conquerors as those who were delivered out of Egypt, but by the might of Him who goes forth as a "man of war" for the deliverance of His people. The song of the Lamb looks to the victories recorded in this book, in which the "works" of the Lord God Almighty of the Old Testament are repeated by Him who as King of the ages manifests thus His " ways " as true and righteous throughout the dispensations.* *There is an alternative reading accepted by most editors,-"nations," found in the Alexandrian and Vatican MSS., with the Ethiopic and Coptic, versions. "Ages" is found in the Sinaitic and Ephrami MSS., with the Vulgate. The Revised Version, with Westcott & Hort, prefer the latter, which has the oldest authority in its favor, and, I judge, the spiritual sense.*

Divine promises are being fulfilled :God is once more taking up the cause of His ancient people, while the sufferers in Christian times are no less being vindicated, and their enemies judged. Great Babylon, with the blood of the prophets in her skirts, comes into remembrance before God. He has not slept, when most He seemed to do so ; and now acts in judgment that makes all men fear. Ripened iniquity, come to a head, wherever we may look, claims the harvest-sickle. The open challenge of the enemy brooks no delay in answering it. It is the only hope for the earth itself, which will learn righteousness when His judgments are in it. While the New Testament here coalesces with the voice of prophecy in the Old, and the cycle of the ages is completed and returns into itself, only with a Second Man, a new creation and the paradise of God. Truly Christ is "King of the ages."

And now the temple of the tabernacle of testimony is opened, where the ark of His covenant has been already seen. Faithful to that covenant now, in which Israel and the earth are together ordained to blessing, the seven angels with the seven last plagues issue forth as the result of that faithfulness. Thus they are arrayed in pure white linen, and girded with golden girdles:it is the glory of God in behalf of which they serve, as the bowls or vials are also golden, and filled with His wrath. From the glory of God and from His power smoke fills the temple. None can therefore approach to intercede. There can be no more delay:long-suffering patience is exhausted :"no one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." F. W. G.

(To be continued.)