The Revelation Explained / An Exposition, Text by Text, of the Apocalypse of St. John

by F. G. Smith

Its explanation would seem to be found in connection with certain facts stated respecting the opening of the preceding seals—that voices followed them. When the first four seals were opened, John heard the voices of the four beasts, "as it were a voice of thunder"; and on the opening of the fifth, he heard the souls of the martyrs crying unto God; but when the seventh was opened, there was silence for a time. The contrast is noticeable; but whether it has any special signification, I am unable to say; perhaps not.

Before the sounding of the seven trumpets, the acceptableness of the prayers of the saints is represented by an angel offering incense "upon the golden altar which was before the throne." This scene was doubtless introduced to lend encouragement to God's children—that, although iniquity abounded on every side and the judgments of God were poured out upon the people, still the prayers of the faithful few were acceptable in his sight, ascending before the throne like sweet incense from off the golden altar.

After offering up the incense with the prayers of all saints, the same angel took his censer and filled it with fire from off the altar and cast it (the fire) upon the earth—a token of God's avenging judgments—"and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake." These, of course, were on earth, and symbolized the revolutions and convulsions now about to take place in the empire.

6. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

We here enter upon a series of prophecies developing fully the successive steps in the decline of the Western Roman empire, by which it finally tottered to its fall. It was necessary that this persecuting, tyrannical government should be subverted in order to give opportunity for the establishment of apostate Christianity in the form of the Papacy, as it constituted the "let" or hindrance to the full development of the "man of sin" mentioned by the apostle in 2 Thes. 2. That persecuting, Pagan Rome was a serious obstacle confronting the development of apostasy was recognized even by the early Christians. Thus, Tertullian, in his notable Apology, chapter 32, says: "Christians are under a particular necessity of praying for the emperors, and for the continued state of the empire; because we know that dreadful power which hangs over the world, and the conclusion of the age, which threatens the most horrible evils, is restrained by the continuance of the time appointed for the Roman empire. This is what we would not experience; and while we pray that it may be deferred, we hereby show our good-will to the perpetuity of the Roman state." In a subsequent chapter it will be seen that Pagan Rome, broken up into minor divisions and no longer able to maintain her position in the political world, resigns her power and authority into the hands of the rising Papacy. Therefore it is not surprising that the means by which this great change is effected should be made the subject of prophetic revelation. Besides, we have other things to guide us in the interpretation. We can readily identify the symbols under the fifth trumpet with the curse of Mohammedanism in the Eastern empire, and we would naturally suppose that the first four precede those. Again, the symbols are all drawn from the natural world, which leads us assuredly into the political affairs of the empire for their fulfilment. They are also of the most destructive nature, therefore we look for objects of a corresponding desolating character. Finally, the vision of the preceding chapter represents fierce, destructive winds as about to descend upon the earth, being temporarily held in check to give opportunity for the primitive establishment of Christianity, implying that they would afterwards be let loose to burst like a tornado upon the empire. It is said positively that power was given "to hurt the earth and the sea" (chap. 7:2), and in the vision before us the effects produced upon the earth and the trees are particularly detailed.

"The earth" signifies the Roman empire, or that portion of the earth made the subject of apocalyptic vision. That this application of the word earth is correct, is shown by various Scriptures. "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." Luke 2:1. "The queen of the South ... came from the uttermost parts of the earth [southern Arabia] to hear the wisdom of Solomon." Mat. 12:42. "Ye shall be witnesses ... unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8. The apostles carried the gospel personally, only throughout the territory of the then-known civilized world—the Roman empire. Upon this earth there descended in the vision before us a fierce storm of hail and fire, mingled with blood. Its being mingled with blood would indicate its destructive effects. One characteristic of this symbol particularly is worthy of notice. Hail and fire cast upon the earth would become absorbed speedily or pass into new combinations with the surrounding elements, thus not remaining in any permanent form except in its effects. In this particular it is wholly unlike the symbol of the next trumpet, which is that of a burning mountain cast into the sea, for such a body would naturally remain permanently where it fell; whereas a storm of hail and fire would soon disappear. Also, the statement that this storm was cast upon the earth would indicate that it was a calamity descending from without upon the empire.

Where, now, do we find the object that fully meets the requirements of this symbol—destructive agents descending upon the Roman empire like a furious storm of hail and fire, accomplishing the first important step toward the subverting of the empire? We find it in the irruption of the fierce Gothic tribes of the North, who, under Alaric, burst like a tornado upon the empire about the beginning of the fifth century, spreading destruction and desolation upon every side.

The following quotations and facts from the highest authority on the subject, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. III, pp. 190-294), will give the reader an idea of the awful effects produced by the invasions of these barbarous tribes. The great Theodosius, emperor of the Western Roman empire, "had supported the frail and mouldering edifice of the republic," but upon his death he was succeeded by the weak Honorious. In a few months the Gothic barbarians were in arms. "The barriers of the Danube were thrown down, the savage warriors of Scythia issued from their forests ... and the various tribes of barbarians, who glory in the Gothic name, were irregularly spread over the woody shores of Dalmatia to the walls of Constantinople." They were "directed by the bold and artful genius of Alaric," who soon concluded that the conquest of Constantinople was an impracticable enterprise. He "disdained to trample any longer on the prostrate and ruined countries of Thrace and Dacia, and he resolved to seek a plentiful harvest of fame and riches in a province which had hitherto escaped the ravages of war.... The troops which had been posted to defend the straits of Thermopylæ retired ... without attempting to disturb the secure and rapid passage of Alaric; and the fertile fields of Phocis and Bæotia were instantly covered by a deluge of barbarians, who massacred the males of an age to bear arms, and drove away the beautiful females, with the spoil and cattle of the flaming villages. The travelers who visited Greece several years afterwards, could easily discover the deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths.... The whole territory of Attica, from the promontory of Sunium to the town of Megara, was blasted by his baleful presence; and, if we may use the comparison of a contemporary philosopher, Athens itself resembled the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim.... Corinth, Argos, Sparta, yielded without resistance to the arms of the Goths; and the most fortunate of the inhabitants were saved, by death, from beholding the slavery of their families and the conflagration of their cities."

Arcadius, the emperor of the East, wishing to dissuade Alaric from further conquests and such wholesale massacres, promoted him to the rank of Master-general of the eastern Illyricum, but it had an opposite effect. "The birth of Alaric, the glory of his past exploits, and the confidence in his future designs, insensibly united the body of the [Gothic] nation under his victorious standard; and, with the unanimous consent of the barbarian chieftains, the Master-general of Illyricum was elevated, according to the ancient custom, on a shield, and solemnly proclaimed king of the Visigoths. Armed with this double power, situated on the verge of the two empires, he alternately sold his deceitful promises to the courts of Arcadius and Honorious; until he declared and executed his resolution of invading the dominions of the West.... He was tempted by the fame, the beauty, the wealth of Italy, which he had twice visited; and he secretly aspired to plant the Gothic standard on the walls of Rome, and to enrich his army with the accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs." He marched into Italy, and the emperor fled before him. A temporary respite was finally procured by the promise of a payment of four thousand pounds of gold.