Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation

by Albert Barnes

The design of this portion of the chapter (ver. 9–12) is to encourage Christians in their trials by the assurance, that this formidable Antichristian power would be overthrown, and that all the enemies of God would receive their just doom in the world of despair. Fearful as that doctrine is, and terrible as is the idea of the everlasting suffering of any of the creatures of God, yet the final overthrow of the wicked is necessary to the triumph of truth and holiness, and there is consolation in the belief that religion will ultimately triumph. The desire for its triumph necessarily supposes that the wicked will be overthrown and punished; and indeed it is the aim of all governments, and of all administrations of law, that the wicked shall be overthrown, and that truth and justice shall prevail. What would be more consolatory in a human government than the idea that all the wicked would be arrested and punished as they deserve? For what else is government instituted? For what else do magistrates and police-officers discharge the functions of their office?

13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which [447]die in the Lord [448]from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

13. And I heard a voice from heaven. A voice that seemed to speak from heaven. ¶ Saying unto me, Write. Make a record of this truth. We may suppose that John was engaged in making a record of what he saw in vision; he was now instructed to make a record of what he heard. This passage may be referred to as a proof that he wrote this book while in Patmos, or as the heavenly disclosures were made to him, and not afterwards from memory. ¶ Blessed are the dead. That is, the condition of those who die in the manner which is immediately specified, is to be regarded as a blessed or happy one. It is much to be able to say of the dead that they are “blessed.” There is much in death that is sad; we so much dread it by nature; it cuts us off from so much that is dear to us; it blasts so many hopes; and the grave is so cold and cheerless a resting-place, that we owe much to a system of religion which will enable us to say and to feel, that it is a blessed thing to die. Assuredly we should be grateful for any system of religion which will enable us thus to speak of those who are dead; which will enable us, with corresponding feeling, to look forward to our own departure from this world. ¶ Which die in the Lord. Not all the dead; for God never pronounces the condition of the wicked who die, blessed or happy. Religion guards this point, and confines the declaration to those who furnish evidence that they are prepared forheaven. The phrase “to die in the Lord” implies the following things:—(1) That they who thus die are the friends of the Lord Jesus. The language “to be in the Lord” is often used to denote true attachment to him, or close union with him. Comp. Jn. xv. 4–7; Ro. xvi. 13, 22; 1 Co. iv. 17; vii. 39; Phi. i. 14; Col. iv. 7. The assurance, then, is limited to those who are sincere Christians; for this the language properly implies, and we are authorized to apply it only as there is evidence of true religion. (2) To “die in the Lord” would seem also to imply that there should be, at the time, the evidence of his favour and friendship. This would apply (a) to those who die as martyrs, giving their lives as a testimony to the truth of religion, and as an evidence of their love for it; and (b) to those who have the comforting evidence of his presence and favour on the bed of death. ¶ From henceforth—ἀπάρτι. This word has given no little perplexity to expositors, and it has been variously rendered. Some have connected it with the word blessed—“Blessed henceforth are the dead who die in the Lord;” that is, they will be ever-onward blessed: some with the word die, referring to the time when the apostle was writing—“Blessed are they who, after this time, die in the Lord;” designing to comfort those who were exposed to death, and who would die as martyrs: some as referring to the times contemplated in these visions—“Blessed will they be who shall die in those future times.” Witsius understands this as meaning that, from the time of their death, they would be blessed, as if it had been said, immediately after their dissolution they would be blessed. Doddridge renders it, “Henceforth blessed are the dead.” The language is evidently not to be construed, as implying that they who had died in the faith before were not happy, but that in the times of trial and persecution that were to come, they were to be regarded as peculiarly blessed who should escape from these sorrows by a Christian death. Scenes of woe were indeed to occur, in which many believers would die. But their condition was not to be regarded as one of misfortune, but of blessedness and joy, for (a) they would die in an honourable cause; (b) they would emerge from a world of sorrow; and (c) they would rise to eternal life and peace. The design, therefore, of the verse is to impart consolation and support to those who would be exposed to a martyr’s death, and to those who, in times of persecution, would see their friends exposed to such a death. It may be added that the declaration here made is true still, and ever will be. It is a blessed thing to die in the Lord. ¶ Yea, saith the Spirit. The Holy Spirit; “the Spirit by whose inspiration and command I record this” (Doddridge). ¶ That they may rest from their labours. The word here rendered labour—κόπος—means properly wailing, grief, from κόπτω, to beat, and hence a beating of the breast as in grief. Then the word denotes toil, labour, effort, Jn. iv. 38; 1 Co. iii. 8; xv. 58; 2 Co. vi. 5; x. 15; xi. 23, 27. It is here used in the sense of wearisome toil in doing good, in promoting religion, in saving souls, in defending the truth. From such toils the redeemed in heaven will be released; for although there will be employment there, it will be without the sense of fatigue or weariness. And in view of such eternal rest from toil, we may well endure the labours and toils incident to the short period of the present life, for, however arduous or difficult, it will soon be ended. ¶ And their works do follow them. That is, the rewards or the consequences of their works will follow them to the eternal world, the word works here being used for the rewards or results of their works. In regard to this, considered as an encouragement to labour, and as a support in the trials of life, it may be remarked, (a) that all that the righteous do and suffer here will be appropriately recompensed there. (b) This is all that can follow a man to eternity. He can take with him none of his gold, his lands, his raiment; none of the honours of this life; none of the means of sensual gratification. All that will go with him will be his character, and the results of his conduct here, and, in this respect, eternity will be but a prolongation of the present life. (c) It is one of the highest honours of our nature that we can make the present affect the future for good; that by our conduct on the earth we can lay the foundation for happiness millions of ages hence. In no other respect does man appear so dignified as in this; nowhere do we so clearly see the grandeur of the soul as in the fact, that what we do to-day may determine our happiness in that future period, when all the affairs of this world shall have been wound up, and when ageswhich cannot now be numbered shall have rolled by. It is then a glorious thing to live, and will be a glorious thing to die. Comp. Notes on 1 Co. xv. 58.

14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat [449]like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

14. And I looked. See Notes on [ver. 1]. His attention is arrested by a new vision. The Son of man himself comes forth to close the scene, and to wind up the affairs of the world. This, too, is of the nature of an episode, and the design is the same as the previous visions—to support the mind in the prospect of the trials that the church was to experience, by the assurance that it would be finally triumphant, and that every enemy would be destroyed. ¶ And behold a white cloud. Bright, splendid, dazzling—appropriate to be the seat of the Son of God. Comp. Notes on Mat. xvii. 5; Re. i. 7. See also Mat. xxiv. 30; xxvi. 64; Lu. xx. 27; Ac. i. 9; 1 Th. iv. 17; Re. x. 1. ¶ And upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man. Comp. Notes on [ch. i. 13]; Da. vii. 13. It is probable that there is here a designed reference to the passage in Daniel. The meaning is, that one appeared on the cloud in a human form, whom John at once recognized as he to whom the appellation of “the Son of man” peculiarly belonged—the Lord Jesus. The meaning of that term had not been fixed in the time of Daniel (vii. 13); subsequently it was appropriated by the Saviour, and was the favourite term by which he chose to speak of himself, Mat. viii. 20; ix. 6; x. 23; xi. 19; xii. 8, 32, 40, et al. ¶ Having on his head a golden crown. Appropriate to him as king. It was mainly in virtue of his kingly power and office that the work was to be done which John is now about to describe. ¶ And in his hand a sharp sickle. The word sickle here—δρέπανον—means a crooked knife or scythe for gathering the harvest, or vintage, by cutting off the clusters of grapes. See ver. 17. The image of a harvest is often employed in the New Testament to describe moral subjects, Mat. ix. 37, 38; xiii. 30, 39; Mar. iv. 29; Lu. x. 2; Jn. iv. 35. Here the reference is to the consummation of all things, when the great harvest of the world will be reaped, and when all the enemies of the church will be cut off—for that is the grand idea which is kept before the mind in this chapter. In various forms, and by various images, that idea had already been presented to the mind, but here it is introduced in a grand closing image, as if the grain of the harvest-field were gathered in,—illustrating the reception of the righteous into the kingdom,—and the fruit of the vineyard were thrown into the wine-press, representing the manner in which the wicked would be crushed, ver. 19, 20.

15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, [450]Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the [451]harvest of the earth is [452]ripe.

15. And another angel. The fourth in order, ver. 6, 8, 9. ¶ Came out of the temple. See Notes on [ch. xi. 19]. Came, as it were, from the immediate presence of God; for the temple was regarded as his peculiar dwelling-place. ¶ Crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud. To the Messiah, ver. 14. That is, the command was borne directly from God by the angel to the Messiah, to go forth and reap the great harvest of the world. It is not a command of the angel, but a command from God the Father to the Son. This is in accordance with all the representations in the New Testament, that the Son, as Messiah or Redeemer, is subordinate to the Father, and performs the work which has been given him to do. See Jn. iii. 16, 17; v. 19; x. 18; xii. 49; xiv. 31. Comp. Notes on Re. i. 1. ¶ Thrust in thy sickle, and reap. Into the great harvest of the world. ¶ For the time is come for thee to reap. That is, “the harvest which thou art to reap is ripe; the seed which thou hast sown has grown up; the earth which thou hast cultivated has produced this golden grain, and it is fit that thou shouldst now gather it in.” This language is appropriately addressed to the Son of God, for all the fruits of righteousness on the earth may be regarded as the result of his culture. ¶ For the harvest of the earth is ripe. The “harvest” inreference to the righteous—the fruit of the good seed sown by the Saviour and his apostles and ministers. The time alluded to here is the end of the world, when the affairs of earth shall be about to be wound up. The design is to state that the Redeemer will then gather in a great and glorious harvest, and by this assurance to sustain the hearts of his people in times of trial and persecution.

16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

16. And he that sat on the cloud. The Saviour, ver. 14. ¶ Thrust in his sickle on the earth. To cut down the harvest—that is, to gather his people to himself. ¶ And the earth was reaped. So far as the righteous were concerned. The end had come; the church was redeemed; the work contemplated was accomplished; and the results of the work of the Saviour were like a glorious harvest.

17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.