Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation

by Albert Barnes

“His eighth work is, that he hates, and persecutes, and searches after, and robs and destroys the members of Christ.

“These things, and many others, are the cloak and vestment of Antichrist; by which he covers his lying wickedness, lest he should be rejected as a heathen.But there is no other cause of idolatry than a false opinion of grace, and truth, and authority, and invocation, and intercession; which this Antichrist has taken away from God, and which he has ascribed to ceremonies, and authorities, and a man’s own works, and to saints, and to purgatory” (Elliott, ii. 354, 355).

It is impossible not to be struck with the application of this to the Papacy, and no one can doubt that the Papacy was intended to be referred to. And, if this be so, this was a bold and decided “testimony” against the abominations of that system, and they who bore this testimony deserved to be regarded as “witnesses” for Christ and his truth.

If to the “testimony” thus briefly referred to, we add that of such men as Wycliffe, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, and then that of the Reformers, Luther, Calvin, Zuingle, Melancthon, and their fellow-labourers, we can see with what propriety it was predicted that even during the prevalence of the great apostasy there would be a competent number of “witnesses” to keep up the knowledge of the truth in the world. And supposing that this is what was designed to be represented, it is easy to perceive that the symbol which is employed is admirably appropriate. The design of what is here said is merely to show that during the whole of the period of the Papal apostasy—whenever it may be supposed to have begun, and whenever it shall cease, it is and will be true that the Saviour has had true “witnesses” on the earth—that there have been those who have “testified” against these abominations, and who, often at great personal peril and sacrifice, have borne a faithful testimony for the truth.

(b) The number of the witnesses. In ver. 3, this is said to be “two,” and this has been shown to mean that there would be a competent number, yet probably with the implied idea that the number would not be large. The only question then is, whether, in looking through this long period, it would be found that, according to the established laws of testimony under the divine code, there was a competent number to bear witness to the truth. And of this no one can doubt, for, in respect to each and every part of the period of the great apostasy, it is possible now to show that there was a sufficient number of the true friends of the Redeemer to testify against all the great and cardinal errors of the Papacy. This simple and obvious interpretation of the language, it may be added, also, makes wholly unnecessary and inappropriate all the efforts which have been made by expositors to find precisely two such witnesses, or two churches or people with whom the line of the faithful testimony was preserved: all such interpretations as that the Old and New Testaments are referred to, as Melchior, Affelman, and Croly suppose; or that preachers are referred to who are instructed by the Law and the Gospel, as Pannonius and Thomas Aquinas, supposed; or that Christ and John the Baptist are referred to, as Ubertinus supposed; or that Pope Sylvester and Mena, who wrote against the Eutychians, are meant, as Lyranus and Ederus supposed; or that Francis and Dominic, the respective heads of two orders of monks, are intended, as Cornelius à Lapide supposed; or that the great wisdom and sanctity of the primitive preachers are meant, as Alcassar maintained; or that John Huss and Luther, or John Huss and Jerome of Prague, or the Waldenses and Albigenses, or the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Ælia, are intended, as others have supposed. According to the obvious and fair meaning of the language, all this is mere fancy, and can illustrate nothing but the fertility of invention of those who have written on the Apocalypse. All that is necessarily implied is, that the number of true and uncorrupted followers of the Saviour has been at all times sufficiently large to bear a competent testimony to the world, or to keep up the remembrance of the truth upon the earth—and the reality of this no one acquainted with the history of the church will doubt.

(c) The condition of the “witnesses” as “clothed in sackcloth,” ver. 3. This has been shown to mean that they would be in a state of sadness and grief; and they would be exposed to trouble and persecution. It is unnecessary to prove that all this was abundantly fulfilled. The long history of those times was a history of persecutions; and if it be admitted that the passage before us was designed to refer to those above mentioned as “witnesses,” no more correct description could be given of them than to say that they were “clothed in sackcloth.”

(d) The power of the witnesses, ver. 5, 6. Of this there are several specifications. (1) They had power over those who should injure or hurt them, ver. 5. This is represented by “fire proceeding out of their mouth, and devouring their enemies.” This has been shown to refer to the doctrines which they would proclaim, and the denunciations which they would utter, and which would resemble consuming fire. This would be accomplished or fulfilled if their solemn testimony—their proclamations of truth—and their denunciations of the wrath of God should have the effect ultimately to bring down the divine vengeance on their persecutors. And no one can doubt that this has had an ample fulfilment. That is, the effect of the testimony borne; of the solemn appeals made; of the denunciations of the judgment of heaven, has been to show that that great persecuting power that oppressed them is arrayed against God, and must be finally overthrown. In order to see the complete fulfilment of this, it would be necessary to trace all the effect of the testimony of the witnesses for the truth from age to age on that power, and to see how far it has been among the causes of the ultimate and final overthrow of the Papacy. Of course, it may be said that in an important sense it is all to be traced to that, since if they had forborne to bear that testimony, and to protest against those corruptions and abominations, that colossal power would have stood unshaken. But the solemn appeals made from age to age by the friends of truth, amidst much persecution, have contributed to weaken that power, and to prepare the world for its ultimate fall—as if fire from heaven fell upon it. The causes of the decline of the Papal power were, therefore, laid far back in the solemn truths urged by those persecuted “witnesses;” and the calamities which have ravaged Europe for these three hundred years, and the changes now occurring which make it so certain that this mighty power hastens to its fall, may all be the regular results of the “testimony” for the truths of a pure gospel borne long ago by the men that dwelt amidst the Alps, and their fellow-sufferers in persecution. (2) They “have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy,” ver. 6. This has been shown to mean that they would have power to cause blessings to be withheld from men as if the rain were withheld. The reference here is probably to the spiritual heavens, and to that of which rain is the natural emblem—the influences of truth, and the influences of the Divine Spirit on the world. So Moses says, in De. xxxii. 2, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, and my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.” So the psalmist (Ps. lxxii. 6), “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.” So Isaiah (lv. 10, 11), “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, so shall my word be,” &c. Comp. Mi. v. 7. The meaning here, then, must be, that spiritual influences would seem to be under their control; or that they would be imparted at their bidding, and withheld at their will. This found an ample fulfilment in the history of the church in those dark periods, in the fact that it was in connection with these “witnesses,” and in answer to their prayers, that the influences of the Holy Spirit were imparted to the world, and that the true religion was kept up on the earth. “It is an historical fact,” says the author of The Seventh Vial (p. 130), “that during the ages of their ministry, there was neither dew nor rain of a spiritual kind upon the earth, but at the word of the witnesses. There was no knowledge of salvation but by their preaching—no descent of the Spirit but in answer to their prayers; and, as the witnesses were shut out from Christendom generally, a universal famine ensued.” (3) They had power over the waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, ver. 6. That is, as explained above, calamities would come upon the earth as if the waters were turned into blood, and this would be so connected with them, and with the treatment which they would receive, that these calamities would seem to have been called down from heaven in answer to their prayers, and in order to avenge their wrongs. And can anyone be ignorant that wars, commotions, troubles, disasters have followed the attempts to destroy those who have borne a faithful testimony for Christ in the dark period of the world here referred to? The calamities that have befallen the Papal communion from time to time may have been, and seem to have been, to a great degree, the consequence of itspersecuting spirit, and of its attempts to quench the light of truth. When the oppressed and persecuted nations of Europe had borne it long, and when attempts had long been made to extinguish every spark of true liberty, the spirit of freedom and revenge was roused. The yoke was broken; and in the wars that ensued rivers of blood flowed upon the earth, as if these “witnesses” or martyrs had, by their own power and prayers, brought these calamities upon their oppressors. A philosophic historian carefully studying human nature, and the essential spirit of Christianity, might find in these facts a sufficient explanation of all the calamities that have come upon that once colossal power—the Papacy—and a full demonstration that, under the operation of these causes, that power must ultimately fall—as if in revenge called down from heaven by the martyrs for the wrongs done to them who had borne a faithful testimony to the truth.

II. The war against the witnesses, ver. 7. There are several circumstances stated in regard to this which demand explanation in order to a full understanding of the prophecy. Those circumstances relate to the time when this would occur; to the government by which this war would be waged; and to the victory.

(a) The time when the war referred to would be waged. The whole narrative (comp. ver. 3, 5) supposes that opposition would be made to them at all times, and that their condition would be such that they could properly be represented as always clothed in sackcloth; but it is evident that a particular period is here referred to, when there would be such a war waged with them that they would be for a time overcome, and would seem to be dead. This time is referred to by the phrase “when they shall have finished their testimony” (ver. 7); and it is to the period when this could be properly said of them that we are to look for the fulfilment of what is here predicted. This must mean, when they should have borne full or ample testimony; that is, when they had borne their testimony on all the great points on which they were appointed to bear witness. See Notes on [ver. 7]. This, then, must not be understood as referring to the time of the completion of the twelve hundred and sixty years, but to any time during that period when it could be said that they had borne a full and ample testimony for the truths of the gospel, and against the abominations and errors that prevailed. In this general expression there is not, indeed, anything that would accurately designate the time, but no one can doubt that this had been done at the time of the Reformation. In the preceding remarks it has been shown that there was a succession of faithful witnesses for the truth in the darkest periods of the church, and that to all the great points pertaining to the system of religion revealed in the gospel, as well as against the errors that prevailed, they had borne an unambiguous testimony. There is no impropriety, therefore, in fixing this period at about the time of the Reformation, for all that is necessarily implied in the language is fulfilled on such a supposition. Faithful testimony had been borne during the long period of the Papal corruptions, until it could be said that their peculiar work had been accomplished. The earlier witnesses for the truth—the Paulicians, the Waldenses, the Vaudois, and other bodies of true Christians—had borne an open testimony, from the beginning, against the various corruptions of Rome—her errors in doctrine, her idolatries in worship, and her immoralities, until in the end of the twelfth century—the same century in which, according to Mr. Gibbon, the meridian of Papal greatness was attained—they proclaimed her, as we have seen, to be the Antichrist of Scripture, the Harlot of the Apocalypse. Thus did they fulfil their testimony; and then was the war waged against them, with all the power of apostate Rome, to silence and to destroy them. This war was commenced in the edicts of councils, which stigmatized the pure doctrines of the Bible, and branded those who held them as heretics. The next step was to pronounce the most dreadful anathemas on those who were regarded as heretics, which were executed in the same remorseless and exterminating manner in which they were conceived. The confessors of the truth were denied both their natural and their civil rights. They were forbidden all participation in dignities and offices; their goods were confiscated; their houses were to be razed and never more to be rebuilt; and their lands were given to those who were able to seize them. They were shut out from the solace of human converse; no one might give them shelter while living, or Christian burial when dead. At length a crusade was proclaimed against them. Preachers were sent abroad through Europe to sound the trumpet of vengeance, and to assemble the nations. The pope wrote to all Christian princes, exhorting them to earn their pardon and win heaven rather by bearing the cross against heretics than by marching against the Saracens. The war, in particular, which was waged against the Waldenses, is well known, and the horror of its details is among the darkest pages of history. The peaceful and fertile valleys of the Vaudois were invaded, and speedily devastated with fire and sword; their towns and villages were burnt; while not one individual, in many cases, escaped to carry the tidings to the next valley. To all the cruelties of these wars, and to all the open persecutions which were waged, are to be added the horrors of the Inquisition, as an illustration of the fact that “wars” would be made against the true witnesses for Christ. Calculations, more or less accurate, have been made of the numbers that Popery has slain; and the lowest of those calculations would confirm what is said here, on the supposition that the reference is to the Papal power. From the year 1540 to the year 1570, comprehending a space of only thirty years, no fewer than nine hundred thousand Protestants were put to death by the Papists, in different countries of Europe. During the short pontificate of Paul the Fourth, which lasted only four years (A.D. 1555–1559), the Inquisition alone, on the testimony of Vergerius, destroyed a hundred and fifty thousand! When he died, the indignant populace of Rome crowded to the prison of the Inquisition, broke open the doors, and released seventeen hundred prisoners, and then set fire to the building (Bowers’ History of the Popes, iii. 319, edit. 1845). Those who perished in Germany during the wars of Charles the Fifth, and in Flanders, under the infamous Duke of Alva, are reckoned by hundreds of thousands. In France several millions were destroyed in the innumerable massacres that took place in that kingdom. It has been computed that since the rise of the Papacy, not fewer than fifty millions of persons have been put to death on account of religion! Of this vast number the greater part have been cut off during the last six hundred years; for the Papacy persecuted very little during the first half of its existence, and it was in this way that it was not until the witnesses had “completed” their testimony, or had borne full and ample testimony, that it made war against them. Comp. The Seventh Vial, pp. 149–157. For a full illustration of the facts here referred to, see Notes on Da. vii. 21. There can be no reasonable doubt that Daniel and John refer to the same thing.

(b) By whom this was to be done. In ver. 7, it is said that it would be by “the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit.” This is undoubtedly the same as the fourth beast of Daniel (Da. vii.), and for a full illustration I must refer to the Notes on that chapter. It is necessary only to add here, if the above representation is correct, that it is easy to see the propriety of this application of the symbol to the Papacy. Nothing would better represent that cruel persecuting power “making war with the witnesses,” than a fierce and cruel monster that seemed to ascend from the bottomless pit.