The book opens with the title or inscription of the book itself, and an account of the scope and design of it, namely, to foretel things which should shortly begin to be fulfilled, and should succeed in their due season and order till all were accomplished. _The Revelation_ Properly so called; for t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who bare record of_, or _testified, the word of God_ That is, who, being honoured with so important a message, did not fail faithfully to declare it; _and the testimony of Jesus_ That which Jesus, as the faithful and true Witness, appointed to be declared; _and all things that he saw_ Was made acqu... [ Continue Reading ]
_John_ The dedication of this book is contained in the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses; but the whole Revelation is a kind of letter. _To the seven churches which are in Asia_ That part of the Lesser Asia, which was then a Roman province. There had been several other churches planted here; but it seems the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold_ In this and the next verse are the proposition and the summary of the whole book. _He cometh_ Jesus Christ. Throughout this book, whenever it is said _He cometh_, it means his glorious coming. The preparation for this began at the destruction of Jerusalem, and more particularly at the time... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord Alpha_ is the first, _Omega_ the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Let his enemies boast and rage ever so much in the intermediate time, yet he is both the _Alpha_, or beginning, and the _Omega_, or end, of all things. Grotius and Bengelius read, λεγει Κυριος ο... [ Continue Reading ]
_I John_ The instruction and preparation of the apostle for the work are described from the 9th to the 20th verse: _your brother_ In the common faith: _and companion in tribulation_ For the same book peculiarly belongs to those who are under the cross. It was given to a banished man; and men in affl... [ Continue Reading ]
_I was in the Spirit_ That is, in a trance, a prophetic vision; so overwhelmed with the power, and filled with the light of the Holy Spirit, as to be insensible of outward things, and wholly taken up with spiritual and divine. What follows is one single, connected vision, which St. John saw in one d... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I turned to see the voice_ That is, to see him whose voice it was; _and being turned, I saw_ It seems the vision presented itself gradually. First, he heard a voice, and upon looking behind him he saw the _golden candlesticks_, and then, _in the midst of the candlesticks_, which were placed in... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when I saw him_ In this awful, this glorious, and resplendent form, I was perfectly overwhelmed with the majesty of his appearance, so that _I fell at his feet as dead_ Human nature not being able to sustain so glorious an appearance. Thus was he prepared, (like Daniel of old, whom he particula... [ Continue Reading ]