Who liveth for ever and ever, AMEN.—And will forever use those attributes in the blessing of all the willing and obedient throughout the Universe.
4:10. The four and twenty elders.—The personifications of the messages of the twenty-four Prophets who foretold the coming Kingdom of God.
Fall down before Him that sat on the Throne.—Unitedly bear witness to His perfect ability to foretell the future.
And worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, AMEN.—Magnify His perfect Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.
And cast.—Shall eternally continue to cast, so the Greek indicates.
Their crowns before the Throne, saying.—(1) Enoch was the first of the holy Prophets; and according to the Apostle Jude he prophesied of the coming reign of Christ and His glorious Bride, to judge the world, saying: “The Lord cometh with a myriad of His saints, to execute judgment.” (Jude 14, 15.) That there shall be such a glorious and blessed Judgment Day, full of hope and joy for all the world, the Apostle Paul says is definitely decreed in the counsels of God, “whereof He hath given assurance,” grounds for confident, joyful anticipation, “unto all men.” (Acts 17:31.) When that happy time comes, “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9), and “the poor of the people will be lifted up” (Psa. 72:2-4, 12-14.) It will be the long-promised poor man's chance.
(2) Jacob was one of the holy Prophets; and in Gen. 49:10 he says, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” The sceptre means the right to rule, the title to power; and Shiloh means peacemaker. So this prophecy is merely another way of saying that Judah would be the ancestor of the great Lawgiver, the great “Prince of Peace” into [pg 083] whose hands God, in due time, will “give the heathen for an inheritance,” “that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent.”—Psa. 2:8; Zeph. 3:9.
(3) Moses, as a historian, recorded God's original purpose to give man dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:28); His declaration to the serpent that the Seed of the woman should bruise its head (Gen. 3:15); the promise to Abraham that in him all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen. 12:3); that Abraham's inheritance should be an earthly one (Gen. 13:15); and an everlasting one (Gen. 17:8); that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him (Gen. 18:18); that in his Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 22:18); to Isaac, that in his Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 26:4); to Jacob, that in his Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:14); to Jacob again, that he should be a joint-heir with Abraham and Isaac of the land of Canaan (Gen. 35:12); by the sacrifices after the day of atonement was typically shown the perfection of mankind in the Millennium (Lev. 1:5); by the glory appearing unto all the people was foretold their future release from sin and death (Lev. 9:23); by the acceptance of a goat as a sin-offering for the people we see blessings of life for the world after the Church's career is finished (Lev. 16:15); and by the sounding of the jubilee trumpet, the proclamation of liberty to the captives and the return of every man to his possession, we see the world's restoration to the image and likeness of God. (Lev. 25:10.) As a Prophet, his declarations show that throughout the Gospel Age God would raise up a great Prophet and Deliverer like unto himself (The Christ), to whom shall all the people give heed in the Millennial Age (Deut. 18:15, 19); and that this great Deliverer then would set before them life, if obedient, and death, if disobedient.—Deut. 30:15.
(4) Samuel, as a historian, recorded Hannah's prophecy, “The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to hell and bringeth up.” (1 Sam. 2:6.) This is one of the first places in the Bible where we are shown that what goes into hell does not necessarily stay there. Another instance, in which Samuel foretold pictorially the coming of the better King, was in the case of the coronation of King Saul. Saul had been selected king, but had an attack of bashfulness; and when they had searched, they found him behind the baggage. The record is, “They ran, and fetched him thence; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him [pg 084] among the people? And all the people shouted and said, God save the king.” (1 Sam. 10:17-24.) Saul was God's choice for king; his name means “desired,” and in this he typified Christ, the “desire of all nations.” This incident looks forward to the time when all the people of the world will say of Christ, “Oh! who is like unto our God? Lo! This is our God; this is our King; this is the One we have waited for; He is head and shoulders, as a ruler, above all kings and rulers we have had.”
(5) Job, after the Sabeans had made off with his oxen and asses, after a bolt of lightning had burned up his sheep, after the Chaldeans had stolen his camels and murdered his servants, after a whirlwind had blown down his house and killed all his children, after he was covered with boils from head to foot, after his wife had gone back on him, and after his three remaining friends tried to prove to him that he was a hypocrite, prayed that he might go to hell and stay there until God's wrath should be past, and that then God would remember him in resurrection. (Job 14:13-15.) Job records Elihu's prophetic statement that when the Messenger of the Covenant has returned, death will cease and men not need to go into the tomb. (Job 33:19-30.) Job also describes the steam engine—stationary, railway and marine.