A Bible School Manual: Studies in the Book of Revelation / An introduction, analysis, and notes, containing a concise interpretation according to the symbolic view, numerous references to authorities, and general mention of other interpretations, with the text of the American revised version edited in paragraphs, for the use of Bible students

by Stephen Alexander Hunter

C The Last Things, Ch. 19:11-20:15

A new phase of the vision of victory now opens, which presents the final culmination and crisis of judgment and redemption, a rapid preview of the closing events of human history, a forecast of the triumph and completion of the gospel age. These events form a series of climaxes that are progressive and catastrophic, and usher in the final consummation of God's world-plan of the ages, a feature that is prominent in all apocalyptic writings.

It is important for us to note afresh at this point, what should be apparent to our minds in the study of the book throughout, viz. that the element of climax, which enters so largely into the thought of the Revelation, belongs essentially to the mood and temper of Apocalyptic; and we should avoid emphasizing too much that which pertains chiefly to literary form and spiritual mood, as though it were intended to set forth the intimate nature of the divine method. Upon careful reflection it must become more and more apparent that the emphasis here laid upon the climactic side of the divine way of working, was only intended to be in proportion to the apparent hopelessness of the historical outlook without such manifest and repeated divine interpositions for human help, and was not intended to indicate that the chief effects to be wrought out will be accomplished by other than the method displayed in history, viz. by long periods of quiet progress and patient waiting, broken now and then by short and decisive periods of crisis. The apocalyptic writers followed the general mode of conception prevalent in the Old Testament, according to which “the final condition of men and the world is regarded less as the perfect issue of a gradual ethical advancement ... than as the result of an interposition or chain of interpositions on the part of God”,[534] which is only one side of the truth—a view growing out of their idea of God as the immediate author of all movements in nature and history, and fitting in well with the increased emphasis laid upon climax in Apocalyptic. There is also a distinct foreshortening of the future which is very evident throughout [pg 210] this section, and this is a well known and characteristic feature of all prophecy. The extreme brevity with which are described and grouped together so many great events of the far future that so deeply affect the Christian hope, serves to indicate that the chief aim of the Revelation does not consist in fully manifesting these events which lie hidden in the hand of God, but in preparing the church for what precedes them, both of trial and of conflict. “Like a flash of lightning in the darkness the vision lights up the whole line of God's purposes to the end”; but how much of the actual form and manner of the events it was the divine purpose to disclose through this ideal and scenic presentation must continue to be, pending the manifestation of the events themselves, to some extent at least, a matter of diverse opinion.

1 The End of the Holy War, Ch. 19:11-21

This part of the vision sets forth the final victory over all the powers of this world which is eventually to be attained by the supreme power of “The Word of God”, the ever conquering Christ, who is here described by this transcendental name for our Lord which is a distinctive title with the Apostle John.[535] Beginning with a view of the triumphant Word going forth to conquer as under the first seal (ch. 6:2), Christ appears in the opened heaven riding on a white horse; he is called “Faithful and True”, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes are a flame of fire, the type of purity and judgment; upon his head are many diadems, the crowns of conquered nations; he hath a name written which no man knoweth but himself,—evidently the “new name” of chapter three (v. 12) which John cannot interpret; and he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood, the token of his redemptive work. The armies of heaven, which apparently include the redeemed, such as have already entered there, follow him [pg 211] on white horses,[536] clothed in fine linen white and pure; out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations,[537] for he shall rule them then with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty, thereby bringing punishment upon the evil. His divine right is clearly seen, for he hath on his garment and on his thigh (i. e. both on the garment and on the thigh, or else on the garment covering the thigh), a name written, “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords”. And the Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, are gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse and against his army, i. e. against Christ and his kingdom to attempt to overcome them. Thus with sublime imagery the vision leads up and on to the close of the great battle with the world-forces, which was briefly described before in chapter sixteen as occurring at Har-Magedon; the war is the same, the battle between the sinful world and the hosts of God which is ever going on through the ages to final victory in the end. Now, by a further view, the Beast, and the False Prophet (or Second Beast) who misguides the people in spiritual things, are seen to be taken, and they twain are cast alive into the lake of fire, while all their followers are slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth (v. 15); and all the birds that fly in mid-heaven are called by an angel standing in the sun to feed upon their flesh, as in Ezekiel's prophecy of the Judgment of Gog (ch. 39:17-22), a judgment exceedingly repulsive to the Hebrew mind. The lake of fire is only a more fully developed form of the Jewish conception of Gehenna as a furnace of fire (Mat. 13:42, and 50). The symbolism here used may have been suggested to John's mind by the appearance of a sea or lake during the eruption of a volcano, a view not unfamiliar to those resident in Asia.[538] This lake in the Revelation is the place of final punishment of the wicked, and is clearly distinguished from the pit of the abyss, the abode of Satan during the present world-period. Thus [pg 212] is signified the triumphant overthrow of the World-Power and of the World-Religion as manifested in history. These together with the World-City are now broken and destroyed, while only the World-Lord, or Satan, remains to carry on the conflict, and the way is thereby prepared for the great millennial victory.

This section is considered by many to refer to Christ's second coming, the Parousia, and, if that view were established, it would serve to support the opinion of those who hold that the second advent will be premillennial; but such an interpretation is beset with many difficulties and cannot be sustained by what is said in these verses. The description does not correspond with the account of Christ's coming again which is given in the Synoptic Gospels and the Epistles, nor with the passing foregleams of it in the preceding chapters, but rather with the delineation of Christ's conflict with the world as it is set forth in this book, which is depicted in its beginnings under the first seal where Christ goes forth conquering and to conquer, and which is now seen to pass through the thick of battle to the crowning of victory. For while the second coming is manifestly the one great objective event ever retained in the background of the visions, overshadowing and interpenetrating every part of the Apocalypse, yet it is at no time definitely introduced or particularly described; and the most accurate and impartial interpretation throughout is that which regards both the time of its occurrence and the position it occupies in relation to other events of the last days as nowhere revealed in the Apocalyptic vision. With the present author this view has grown through time from that of a possible solution of a much vexed question into a settled conviction of its correctness.[539] And it should be seen, that with this section (ch. 19:11-21) in grave doubt, to say the least, concerning its application to the advent, if indeed it should not be regarded as entirely inapplicable, there is nothing definitely taught in the Revelation in regard to the time of Christ's second coming; for whatever opinion we may entertain concerning the time of that glorious event so dear to the Christian heart, we cannot regard this [pg 213] passage as decisive in the matter unless we interpolate into it a meaning which it does not necessarily contain.

2 Satan Bound, Ch. 20:1-3a

The temporary destruction of Satan's power is here indicated by his being bound for a season; and this marks another advance in the triumphal march of events. An angel coming down from heaven with the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand, lays hold upon the Dragon, the Old Serpent, Satan, and binds him for a thousand years, and then shuts him up in the abyss, his present dwelling-place, from which he can now emerge at will during the period of conflict, and seals it over him that his power may be restrained until the end of that time. The binding of Satan indicates the limiting of his authority over the nations, with the subsequent ushering in of the triumph of the gospel among men, when, according to the announcement of the seventh trumpet, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (ch. 11:15), a promise partially fulfilled at this stage, but awaiting its complete fulfilment in the final consummation. The limiting of Satan's power is a preparatory stage to the events that follow, and precedes the first resurrection, as it also precedes the millennium.