Notes on the Apocalypse

by David Steele

10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Vs. 9-11.—"And the third angel followed." The two preceding angels addressed communities, calling them to repentance and reformation. Indeed, the language of the second implies little or no hope of their recovery. This third angel, "following" up the scriptural testimony of those who went before, and assuming that church and state,—the essential elements of the antichristian system,—continue irreclaimable, addresses his message to individuals. This angel is the last that the Lord Jesus will employ to awaken sinners that "are at ease in Zion." His ministry is yet future, and he will never be succeeded by an angel of mercy until mystical Babylon is overthrown. The special, arduous and perilous work of this angel is, to threaten eternal death against every individual who persists in the hitherto popular idolatry. "If any man worship the beast."—Up to the time of this angel's appearance the beast lives and devours his prey: consequently, his work comes within the period of the 1260 years. During this limited time, there will be found in the Apocalypse three objects of popular devotion,—the dragon, (ch. xiii. 4,) the beast, and his image, (v. 15.) In this place the dragon is omitted, as also in ch. xv. 2; xx. 4. We may ask, why the omission?—Simply because "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God," (1 Cor. x. 20;) consequently, these worshippers being Gentiles, (ch. xi. 2,) there is no necessity that the dragon (the devil) should be particularized. From the first rise of the beast, he was in alliance with the dragon, (ch. xiii. 2, 3;) therefore both are doomed to perdition, (ch. xx. 10.) Most expositors consider this angel as emblematical of events already past; the reformation effected by Luther, his coadjutors and successors, or the church of England![9] Their error consists in viewing the beast as the symbol of the church of Rome. And it is remarkable, that through the power of local and political bias, those commentators who themselves perceive that the beast of the sea in chapter xiii. 1, symbolizes the Roman empire, lose sight of their own exposition when they arrive at the place before us! And of this bias and inconsistency they seem to be wholly unconscious! No, there has never yet appeared in the symbolic heaven a minister or ecclesiastical organization, which has authoritatively denounced everlasting punishment against all who "receive the mark of the beast." It is to be noticed here that the sins charged are cumulative, not distributive. Guilt is contracted as here charged, by "worshipping the beast and his image, and receiving his mark." If the beast signify immoral civil power, and his image signify the Papacy, as we have seen they do, then it follows that worshipping both, and receiving the mark of the former, constitute the special guilt here charged by the angel: that is, eulogizing, praising, and actively co-operating with civil and ecclesiastical society, at war with the Bible—in organized hostility to the Lord and his Anointed. (Ps. ii. 9.) "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" (Ps. xciv. 20.) But during the 1260 years, the secular imperial beast consists of "kingdoms of this world" in alliance with the beast of the earth, (ch. xiii. 1, 11.) And as both are for their crimes consigned to utter destruction, so in the time of the "third angel," every individual is threatened with everlasting punishment, who identifies with them. "No temporal judgments on collective bodies can be the fulfilment of this awful denunciation, which evidently relates to individuals, and to each individual who is guilty; and if words can convey the idea of eternal punishment, it is here denounced."[10] The words in the original, translated "for ever and ever," (v. 11,) are the strongest in the Greek language to signify eternity, and are not susceptible of any other meaning.

As already intimated, the special mission and awful message of this angel is yet future; but the testimony of his predecessor will have made the tyranny, idolatry, immorality and profligacy of civil despots and mercenary ministers so palpable and glaring, that the vengeance of the Lord proclaimed by the last messenger will appear to be just. In this way the "two witnesses smite the earth with all plagues," (ch. xi. 6;) for they are identical with the "third angel," and have an active agency in the work of judgment to be executed upon the antichristian enemies, (ch. xv. 7.) And "who knows the power of that wrath which is poured out without mixture into the cup of Jehovah's indignation?" In temporal judgments there may be a mixture of mercy; but there is no such element in the cup of the impenitent votaries of mystic Babylon. "Holy angels" look on without sympathy for her agonies, while the Lamb inflicts the tremendous penalty of her complicated and long-continued crimes. "He shall be tormented—their torment:"—individuals found guilty of complicity with Babylon, will be bound up into bundles as fuel for that fire and brimstone, whose "smoke ascendeth up for ever and ever." "They have no rest day nor night who worship the beast,"—no mitigation of their sufferings. They are doomed to dwell "with everlasting burnings." (Is. xxxiii. 14.) Such are the denunciations which the "third angel" is commissioned to proclaim in the ears of men, either to bring them to repentance, or to justify the Lamb in punishing their impenitent disobedience. Now "every one who is acquainted with the writings of the reformers and their successors, knows that they generally declared, without hesitation, that popery is a damnable religion."[11] Popery, however, is the religion which has corrupted states and churches throughout the world; and therefore future reformers will not hesitate to join civil states with her in their testimony and prayers, saying,—"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name; for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place." (Psa. ix. 17; lxxix. 6, 7.)

12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

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

Vs. 12, 13.—The faithful and pointed testimony of the "third angel" of reform against the organized enemies of God in church and state, instead of producing repentance, tends only to provoke them to greater rage against those who thus awaken their consciences and disturb their sinful repose. The fires of persecution are again kindled, and the witnesses are subjected to the anathemas of the church and the sword of the civil magistrate,—the cruelty of the two beasts. It is therefore added,—"Here is the patience of the saints." The events predicted here agree in time with ch. xiii. 10; and the subjects of persecution are the same moral person in their legitimate successors who appeared in ch. xii. 17. They "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," while the multitude "obey unrighteousness, receiving for doctrines the commandments of men."

To animate these sufferers who are in "jeopardy every hour" and who have the sentence of death as outlaws, pronounced against them by Antichrist, John "heard a voice from heaven," directing him to write,—"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth."—To "die in the Lord,"—means, in the faith and hope of the gospel, relieved by the "witness of the Spirit" from the overwhelming fears of the pains of purgatory. Both negatively and positively, this angel testifies against the antichristian dogma of purgatory. He declares that the torments of the wicked continue "for ever and ever," while the righteous who die in the Lord, "cease from their labours."—No stronger testimony can be conceived against the more gross papal heresy, or the more modern and so called philosophical delusions of Universalists, Socinians and others,—all of whom are the offspring of the "mother of harlots." But besides the voice from heaven, and the concurrent witness of the Spirit, against the papal dogma of purgatory, the "rest" here proclaimed for the comfort of martyred saints, may be also understood as a termination to their sharp conflicts with Antichrist. "Henceforth they rest from their labours,"—they shall never again be called to "resist unto blood, striving against sin," as heretofore, by the combined opposition of the "beast and false prophet," organized tyranny and idolatry. The ministry of the "third angel," cotemporary with the "seventh trumpet,"—the third and last "woe," prepares society throughout Christendom for entering into the millennial rest.

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

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