7 lines
2.9 KiB
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7 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
<p>Here we have an account of another vision the apostle was favoured with, between the sounding of the sixth trumpet and that of the seventh. And we observe,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. The person who was principally concerned in communicating this discovery to John—an angel from heaven, <i>another mighty angel</i>, who is so set forth as would induce one to think it could be no other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! 1. He was <i>clothed with a cloud</i>: he veils his glory, which is too great for mortality to behold; and he throws a veil upon his dispensations. <i>Clouds and darkness are round about him</i>. 2. <i>A rainbow was upon his head</i>; he is always mindful of his covenant, and, when his conduct is most mysterious, yet it is perfectly just and faithful. 3. <i>His face was as the sun</i>, all bright, and full of lustre and majesty, <a class="bibleref" title="Rev.1.16" href="/passage/?search=Rev.1.16">Rev. 1:16</a>. 4. <i>His feet were as pillars of fire</i>; all his ways, both of grace and providence, are pure and steady.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. His station and posture: <i>He set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth</i>, to show the absolute power and dominion he had over the world. <i>And he held in his hand a little book opened</i>, probably the same that was before sealed, but was now opened, and gradually fulfilled by him.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">III. His awful voice: <i>He cried aloud, as when a lion roareth</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Rev.10.3" href="/passage/?search=Rev.10.3">Rev. 10:3</a>), and his awful voice was echoed by <i>seven thunders</i>, seven solemn and terrible ways of discovering the mind of God.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">IV. The prohibition given to the apostle, that he should not publish, but conceal what he had learned from the seven thunders, <a class="bibleref" title="Rev.10.4" href="/passage/?search=Rev.10.4">Rev. 10:4</a>. The apostle was for preserving and publishing every thing he saw and heard in these visions, but the time had not yet come.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">V. The solemn oath taken by this mighty angel. 1. The manner of his swearing: <i>He lifted up his hand to heaven, and swore by him that liveth for ever</i>, by himself, as God often has done, or by God as God, to whom he, as Lord, Redeemer, and ruler of the world, now appeals. 2. The matter of the oath: that <i>there shall be time no longer</i>; either, (1.) That there shall be now no longer delay in fulfilling the predictions of this book than till the last angel should sound; then every thing should be put into speedy execution: <i>the mystery of God shall be finished</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Rev.10.7" href="/passage/?search=Rev.10.7">Rev. 10:7</a>. Or, (2.) That when this mystery of God is finished time itself shall be no more, as being the measure of things that are in a mutable changing state; but all things shall be at length for ever fixed, and so time itself swallowed up in eternity.</p>
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