Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/biblefre/topics09/t09650

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09651
 INDEX to B. W. Johnson's Notes on Revelation

 Introductions
    Chapters 2 and 3                         9654
    Chapter 4                                9657
    Chapter 6                                9661
    Chapter 7                                9701
    Chapter 8                                9704
    Chapter 9                                9707
    Chapters 10 and 11                       9712
    Chapter 12                               9754
    Chapter 14                               9760
    Chapter 15                               9763
    Chapter 16                               9764
    Chapter 17                               9801
    Chapter 18                               9803
    Chapter 19                               9804
    Chapter 20                               9806
    Chapter 21                               9807

 Topics
    The Appearance of Christ                 9652
    The Seven Stars                          9653
    The Fate of the Seven Churches           9655
    Alleged Opposition to Paul               9656
    The Four Living Creatures                9658
    The Four and Twenty Elders               9659
    The Doxologies                           9660
    The Meaning of the First Seal            9662
    The Fulfilment of the Second Seal       9663
    The Fulfilment of the Third Seal        9664
    The Fulfilment of the Fourth Seal       9665
    The Fulfilment of the Fifth Seal        9666
    The Meaning of the Sixth Seal            9667
    The Fulfilment of the Sixth Seal        9668
    The Meaning of Symbols in Chapter 7      9702
    The Four Winds                           9703
    The Fulfilment of First Four Trumpets   9705
    The Fulfilment of the Fifth Trumpet     9708
    The Fulfilment of the Sixth Trumpet     9709
    The Time of the Sixth Trumpet            9710
    Note on Symbols and Events in History    9711
    The Fulfilment of the Open Book         9713
    The Fulfilment of Measuring the Temple  9714
    The True Church                          9715
    The Fulfilment of the Two Witnesses     9716
    Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days            9751
    The Triumph of the Witnesses             9752
    An Analysis of Part I                    9753
    Revelation 11:19                         9755
    The Meaning of the Beast                 9756
    The Mortal Wound That Was Healed         9757
    Forty-Two Months                         9758
    The Number of the Beast                  9759
    The Lamb on Mount Zion                   9761
    Babylon                                  9762
    The Fulfilment of the First Bowl        9765
    The Fulfilment of the Second Bowl       9766
    The Fulfilment of the Third Bowl        9767
    The Fulfilment of the Fourth Bowl       9768
    The Fulfilment of the Fifth Bowl        9769
    Mystery, Babylon, the Great              9802
    The Coming of Christ                     9805

09652
                    THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST

    He was arrayed in a priestly robe and girt with a kingly
 girdle of gold. Heavenly purity was indicated by the dazzling
 whiteness of his head and hair, and the splendour that shone from
 his countenance was like that of the unclouded sun. Every
 manifestation of the divine glory is accompanied with brilliance
 and splendour. "In him is no darkness at all."
 # 1Jo 1:5
 The burning bush of Horeb, the glory of Sinai, the Shekinah of
 the tabernacle, the City of which God and the Lamb are the
 light, the transfigured Saviour of Hermon, the Son of Man of
 Patmos, and all the visions of the prophets of both covenants,
 indicate that whenever the Deity manifests itself, there is a
 revelation of heavenly splendour. The Son of Man, the Man of
 Sorrows, the Lamb of God, is also the Bright and Morning Star,
 and the Sun of Righteousness. It is thus, crowned with majesty,
 garbed in light, and shining as the sun, that John beholds the
 Son of Man walking amid the golden candlesticks and holding the
 seven stars in his hands.
 (Johnson TPNT 418)
09653
                         THE SEVEN STARS

    I shall not take up space to discuss the various views as to
 the nature of the angels of the churches. It has been held that
 they were heavenly angels, were diocesan bishops of the cities,
 were pastors or elders, or were messengers sent from the
 churches to visit John in Patmos. The word "angel" means a
 messenger, and is equally applicable to the messengers of God
 and those of men. John the Baptist is called \\angel\\, or
 messenger, and the term is often applied to human beings.
 # Mr 1:2
 It is certain that it is in this passage. John is told to
 \\write\\ to these angels, and certainly the letters were not
 sent to the angels of heaven. Nor does this language suggest the
 idea of messengers sent to visit John in Patmos. In that case
 the letters might be sent \\by\\ them to the churches, but would
 certainly not be written \\to\\ them. It becomes evident,
 therefore, that the angels were men filling some office in
 connection with the churches. There is not the slightest
 evidence that diocesan bishops existed until much later than
 this age, and hence I do not think that they are meant. The term
 can hardly apply to an elder, for there seems to have been a
 plurality of elders in all the churches, and it is not likely
 that one would be singled out. It is my judgment that the angels
 were the preachers or evangelists of the churches. As these
 evangelists not only laboured at home, but were often sent out,
 and were messengers to carry the good tidings, there is a
 fitness in applying the term to them. We know from the epistles
 of Paul and from church tradition, that Timothy was long the
 evangelist at Ephesus, and it is possible that he may have lived
 and laboured until the time of John's banishment. If so, he was
 the angel to whom the epistles to the church at Ephesus was
 directed. Then we conclude that the seven stars held in the hand
 of the Lord, supported and strengthened by him, shining with his
 light, are the seven preachers of the churches of Asia.
 (Johnson TPNT 418-419)
09654
                       REVELATION 2 AND 3

    The second and third chapters differ from all the rest of
 Revelation in that they are letters dictated by the Lord to the
 Seven Churches which have been chosen to represent the entire
 church of God. The description of their varied conditions and
 the commendations, rebukes, promises and warnings given them,
 are a fitting introduction to a book which is designed to reveal
 the various phases of the church in history, its fortunes, its
 lapses, its tribulations, persecutions and final triumph. While
 these Seven Epistles differ in details, they will be found to
 have the same general plan and to have the following features in
 common:
 (1) An order to write to the angel of the church.
 (2) A glorious title of Christ taken from the imagery or
     language of the visions of chapter 1.
 (3) A description of the condition of the church, whether good
     or bad, admonitions and exhortations.
 (4) A promise to those who persevere and triumph.
 (5) A closing injunction to "hear what the Spirit saith to the
     churches."
    Four epistles are contained in chap. 2, and three in chap. 3.
 A close examination will show that there is a distinction. In
 the last four epistles the closing promise is placed \\after\\
 the injunction to "hear what the Spirit," etc.; in the first
 three epistles the promise is \\before\\ the injunction. The
 distinction makes two groups of epistles, one of three and the
 other of four, just as the seven seals, the seven trumpets and
 the seven bowls are divided into two groups each, of three and
 four.
    The Church at Ephesus
    # 2:1-7
    The Church at Smyrna
    # 2:8-11
    The Church at Pergamos
    # 2:12-17
    The Church at Thyatira
    # 2:18-29
    The Church at Sardis
    # 3:1-6
    The Church at Philadelphia
    # 3:7-13
 (Johnson TPNT 419)
09655
                THE FATE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES

    In view of the promises and threats of the Saviour to these
 Seven Churches a concise view of their subsequent history would
 be helpful. Two of the churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, are
 praised without the slightest censure. Three, Ephesus, Sardis,
 and Laodicea, are severely blamed and threatened with
 extinction. Two more, Pergamos and Thyatira, are both praised
 and blamed, and admonished to repent.

    The two first, Smyrna and Philadelphia, are now and have been
 since the first century, the seats of churches and of a large
 Christian population. Of Philadelphia the sceptical Gibbon says:
 "Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy or by courage. At
 a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperors, encompassed
 on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their
 religion and freedom alone for four score years, and then
 capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek
 colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect--a
 column in a scene of ruins, a pleasing example that the paths of
 honour and safety may sometimes be the same."--"Decline and Fall
 of the Roman Empire," Chapter LXIV.

    The three churches so severely censured and threatened,
 Ephesus, Sardis and Laodicea, ceased to exist many centuries
 since, and even the cities have long been uninhabited.

    The two remaining churches, Pergamos and Thyatira, were never
 entirely blotted out and a small Christian population is found
 in both places to this time.
 (Johnson TPNT 427-428)
09656
                   ALLEGED OPPOSITION TO PAUL

    Renan and some rationalistic critics of Germany have been
 determined to see in Revelation a strong Judaizing spirit and a
 bitter opposition to Paul and his work among the Gentiles. Their
 interpretations illustrate how far astray a man may be led who
 has a theory to sustain. They insist that the Nicolaitans, the
 followers of Balaam, "that woman Jezebel," and those "who say
 they are Jews and are not," are all adherents of Paul. These
 interpretations are so improbable that they cannot be even
 considered unless they have some historical basis. That is
 wanting. Had John been the extreme Judaizer supposed he never
 would have taken refuge among Gentile churches planted and
 trained by Paul. Had he sought to revolutionize them traces of
 his effort would have remained in the writings of the men who
 had seen, heard and been taught by John. Of this extreme
 aversion to Paul and his work, Polycarp, Papias and Irenaeus
 knew nothing. It remained unknown to the whole world until
 discovered by certain modern rationalistic critics. On the other
 hand, there is not the slightest discord between the teaching of
 Paul in his epistles and the Book of Revelation.
 (Johnson TPNT 427)
09657
                          REVELATION 4

    It is generally agreed that with this chapter the third
 section of Revelation begins. Chapters 4 and 5 are preparatory
 visions. It is not until chapter 6 is reached that the future
 begins to be uncovered. In these chapters there is revealed
 through the open door of heaven the Almighty upon the throne in
 glory surrounded by adoring creatures. The symbolism declares
 that he holds in his hands the destinies of the world and
 knowledge of the future. Then it is declared that to the Lion of
 the tribe of Judah it has been given to open the book of destiny
 and to reveal the future. To the Son, who appears in a symbolic
 form, the book is given, amid the praises of Elders and living
 creatures.

    It is noteworthy that the two greatest prophets of the OT,
 those who had the clearest visions of the reign of
 Christ, were permitted to behold a similar scene as a
 preparation for their revelations. Ezekiel and Isaiah are each
 allowed to behold the glory of God.
 # Isa 6:1-4 Eze 1:25-28
 As the OT prophets, when about to enter upon their work, were
 inaugurated to the office of making known the future by a vision
 of the Almighty, so John, the NT prophet, the last prophet of
 the world, was permitted to have a similar vision.  Though the
 visions differ, the most striking symbols are beheld by all
 three of the prophets.

 (1) All see and describe the throne of God, with its sublime
     surroundings;
     # Eze 1:26-26 Isa 6:1,2 Re 4:2-6
 (2) all speak of the One who sits on the throne, though they
     make no attempt to describe his person;
     # Eze 1:26 Isa 6:1 Re 4:2,3
 (3) all record his glory;
     # Eze 1:28 Isa 6:4 Re 4:3
 (4) Ezekiel beholds living creatures around the throne, full of
     eyes, with four wings and two hands;
     # Eze 1:5-14
     Isaiah sees the seraphim with six wings who cry, "Holy,
     holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts."
     # Isa 6:2,3
     In John's vision the four beasts are about the throne, full
     of eyes, with six wings who cry, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord
     God Almighty."
     # Re 4:8

    In the case of all the prophets the vision of God is
 preparatory and indicates that he is about to impart the secrets
 of his future, hitherto held in his own bosom.
 (Johnson TPNT 428)
09658
                    THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES

    The meaning of the Twenty-four Elders and the Four Living
 Creatures has been the subject of much discussion. It has been
 held by many discreet commentators that the first symbolizes the
 Redeemed Church, and the latter the Animated Creation, joined
 around the throne in the praises of the Almighty. It is always
 with hesitation and a degree of pain that I differ from those
 whose opinions I have studied with profit, but I am compelled to
 think that none of the explanations are entirely adequate. I
 give below my reasons, and what I think the correct view:

    THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES.--What is symbolized by these
 forms? If the reader will turn to Ezekiel 1, he will find the
 exiled prophet of the old dispensation saw by the river Chebar
 of Babylon, the same beings that John described in this chapter.
 While there are minor differences, the great features are the
 same. Each prophet, John and Ezekiel, sees

 (1) four living creatures;
     # Eze 1:5 Re 4:6
 (2) four faces, like those of a man, a lion, an ox or calf, and
     a flying eagle;
     # Eze 1:10 Re 4:7
 (3) the living creatures of each prophet are full of eyes;
     # Eze 1:18 Re 4:8
 (4) in each case they are winged. There is one minor difference
     in the wings: John sees six wings,
     # Re 4:8
     while Ezekiel mentions four wings and a pair of hands under
     the wings, making six members.
     # Eze 1:6,8
     The seraphim of Isaiah had six wings.
     # Isa 6:2

    The similar appearance, and the fact that the same Greek term
 is used to represent them, proves beyond doubt that the "four
 living beings" of John are those of Ezekiel. If we therefore can
 ascertain the significances of the symbols beheld by the OT
 prophets, we will be able to ascertain what the same symbols
 mean in Revelation.

    We are not left in doubt about the identity of the beings
 described by them. In the tenth chapter of Ezekiel describes
 certain beings that he beheld the second time; and he says: "And
 the likeness of their faces [was] the same faces which I saw by
 the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves."
 # Eze 10:22
 He also says that these are the "living being I saw by the river
 Chebar."
 # Eze 10:15
 Again, he affirms the same thing, and says: "I knew that they
 [were] the cherubim."
 # Eze 10:20
 Isaiah, on the other hand, declares that the figures he saw were
 seraphim.
 # Isa 6:2

    Here, then, is solid ground. The four living creatures of
 John are not the four elements, four quarters of the earth, four
 continents, or four evangelists, but are cherubim or seraphim.
 The forms seen by these prophets are probably symbolical of
 their nature and work. The information given in the Scriptures
 is scanty, but they are always represented as being very near
 the throne of God. When man sinned, it was cherubim who guarded
 the way to the tree of life.
 # Ge 3:24
 In the tabernacle cherubim hovered over the mercy seat and were
 figured upon the curtains.
 # Ex 25:20 Heb 9:5 Ex 36:8
 The Almighty is addressed elsewhere as the One who dwells
 between the cherubim.
 # 1Sa 4:4 2Sa 6:2 2Ki 19:15 1Ch 13:6 Ps 80:1 99:1 Isa 37:16
 The brightness of the glory of the Lord is represented as
 attending them in Ezekiel;
 # Eze 1:28
 and in the vision of John they are "in the midst of and around
 the throne." In the fifth chapter the Lamb stands "in the midst
 of the throne and of the four living beings."
 # Re 5:6
 In some way the cherubim are immediately about the throne of
 God.
 # Eze 1:26 Re 4:6

    The forms seen by Isaiah, Ezekiel and John have a symbolical
 significance. These angelic intelligences represent the courage
 of the lion, the patient strength of the ox, the intellect of
 the man, and the swiftness of the eagle. They are full of eyes,
 or see all things; their wings are always in motion, or they are
 distinguished by tireless activity, and the continually cry,
 "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty"; or, without ceasing they
 minister to the glory of God. Thus much can be said concerning
 the "four living beings," or "cherubim," without indulging in
 speculation. Cherubim are present at the fall of man; cherubim
 also celebrate his redemption and the triumph of the reign of
 Christ. Whether they also symbolize four forms of earthly
 creation is a matter left to conjecture.

 (Johnson TPNT 429-430)
09659
                   THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS

    The meaning of the Twenty-four Elders and the Four Living
 Creatures has been the subject of much discussion. It has been
 held by many discreet commentators that the first symbolizes the
 Redeemed Church, and the latter the Animated Creation, joined
 around the throne in the praises of the Almighty. It is always
 with hesitation and a degree of pain that I differ from those
 whose opinions I have studied with profit, but I am compelled to
 think that none of the explanations are entirely adequate. I
 give below my reasons, and what I think the correct view:

    THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS.--What has been said will aid us
 to determine the meaning of these heavenly elders. It has been
 usually held that they were men, representative of the redeemed.
 The number has been troublesome, but they have been supposed to
 represent the twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs. I think
 that a careful examination of all the passages in which they
 occur will show that they are of kindred character to the
 cherubim ("the four living beings") and to the angels.
 (1) They are about the throne.
     # Re 4:4,6
 (2) When the cherubim give glory to God, they also worship.
     # Re 4:10,9
 (3) Together they sing the new song.*
     # Re 5:8,9
 (4) When the angels honour the Lamb, these unite in saying, Amen
     # Re 5:14
 (5) When the innumerable multitude of redeemed, clothed in white
     robes, praise God for salvation, the angels and elders, and
     four beasts are not with these redeemed ones, but about the
     throne, and join together in a separate ascription of praise
     from that offered by men.
     # Re 7:9-12
 (6) One of the elders informs John concerning those arrayed in
     white robes, and it is evident that he does not belong to
     their number.
     # Re 7:13
 (7) When the final triumph comes, and the seventh trumpet angel
     proclaims that "the kingdoms of this world are become [the
     kingdoms] of our Lord, and of His Christ," the four and
     twenty elders who were sitting on their seats before the
     throne fell upon their faces and gave thanks to God.
     # Re 11:15-17
 (8) The Lamb has one hundred and forty and four thousand saints
     about him, who sing "a new song before the throne, and
     before the four beasts, and the elders."
     # Re 14:3

    From all these passages, it will be seen that the elders are
 grouped, not with the martyrs, or redeemed, or the one hundred
 and forty and four thousand; not with saved men, but with the
 angels and the cherubim about the throne of God. This
 distinction marks their character. They belong to the heavenly
 intelligences; to the same class as the cherubim and angels.
 They are princes of heaven. They are twenty-four in number. This
 number is probably associated with the twenty-four courses of
 priests engaged in the service of the temple,
 # 1Ch 24:3-19
 the institutions of which were "patterns of things in the
 heavens."
 # Heb 9:23
 They are of the retinue that surround the throne and serve in
 the presence of God, and they constantly join in the adoration
 of the angelic hosts, and are incessantly employed in carrying
 out God's plans for the salvation of the world.
 ___________
 * See the New Song in the ASV: ". . . for thou was slain, and
 didst purchase unto God with thy blood [men] of every tribe, and
 tongue, and people, and nation." The New Song praises the Lamb
 for redeeming men and making them a kingdom and priests, but the
 Four Living Creatures and the Twenty-four Elders neither here
 nor elsewhere offer praises for their own redemption. They do
 not belong to the redeemed.

 (Johnson TPNT 430)
09660
                         THE DOXOLOGIES

    The action of chapter five is wonderfully dramatic. The Being
 upon the throne with the sealed book in his right hand; the
 proclamation of the strong angel calling for some one who was
 worthy to open the book; the declaration that no created being
 of the universe could open it; the apostle weeping, in his
 anxiety to know concerning the future, and from disappointment
 that no one could open the book; the assurance of the elder that
 the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed to open it; the
 appearance of the slain Lamb who prevails as the Lion, and his
 taking the book out of the right hand of God, are all calculated
 to fix the attention with breathless interest, and to strike the
 imagination with startling power.

    And the picture grows still grander as the heavenly tenants
 sing their doxologies in praise of the victory of the Lamb.
 First, the four living creatures and the elders sing a new song;
 then a countless number of angels, about the throne, the living
 creatures and the elders join in the chorus. These praises ring
 through the heavens, and the reverberations reach from heaven to
 earth, and every creature "in heaven, and on the earth, and
 under the earth, and such as are in the sea" join in the
 ascription of praise to the Lamb.
 # Re 5:13
 To these praises the cherubim respond, Amen! and the elders fall
 down and worship Him that liveth forever and ever.
 (Johnson TPNT 433)
09661
                          REVELATION 6

    The wonderful scene in heaven when the Sealed Book is given
 to the Lamb, pictured in the last chapter, shows the
 transcendent importance of the Sealed Book itself, of the act of
 placing it in the hands of the Lamb of God, and of the events
 which be unfolded as its pages are opened. These seals are
 opened in succession and with the opening of each seal John sees
 and records an impressive vision. No system of interpretation
 which does not make these represent events which follow each
 other in time is reasonable. The vision following the opening of
 the first seal must portray a period of events nearest to the
 times of John, while the seventh seal must relate to the
 remotest events, and when the last symbol that it contains is
 reached we must have been carried to the end of time and to the
 consummation of the history of the church and of the fate of the
 world. As each seal is opened, a symbol is seen which is
 designed to outline the character of a new epoch.
 (Johnson TPNT 433)
09662
                  THE MEANING OF THE FIRST SEAL

    In ascertaining the meaning of a series of prophetic symbols,
 portraying events which follow successively, it is of great
 importance to interpret the first aright. A wrong start will
 lead astray along the whole line of interpretation. Before
 giving my own views I will indicate briefly those of leading
 commentaries concerning the significance of the White Horse and
 His Rider.

    "A symbol of Christ's victorious power."--Godet.
    "A symbol of the conquering Gospel."--Alford. "The Ride is
 Christ."--Archdeacon Lee in "Speaker's Commentary."
    "It is our Lord riding prosperously."-- Dr. Wm. Milligan of
 Aberdeen.
    "Christ is going forth to judgment."--Hengstenberg.
    "The Rider is Christ."--Lange.
    "The Roman Empire. The Persian Empire was symbolized by a
 ram, the Macedonian Empire by a goat, and here the Roman Empire
 by a white horse and his rider."--Elliott.
    # Da 8:3,5
    "The prosperous period of the Roman Empire extending from the
 Emperor Nerva to the end of the Antonines."--Barnes.

    The preponderance of interpretation is in favour of the view
 that the symbol signifies the conquests of Christ, either in
 person or through the gospel. It is with some hesitation that I
 dissent from the view that spiritual conflicts and victories are
 signified.

    (1) Four horses in succession follow. The latter three cannot
 refer to spiritual changes. If the first horseman represents a
 spiritual power the others cannot represent carnal powers. If
 they refer to events in the secular world, the meaning of the
 first must also be sought there.

    (2) It has been urged that the Rider upon the white horse in
 chap. 19 is the same as that of the first seal. There is nothing
 common but the white horse. The Rider of chap. 19 is clothed,
 armed and crowned differently. He wears garments sprinkled with
 blood, has upon his head many diadems (kingly crowns) and out of
 his mouth proceeds the sword of the Word of God. This warrior
 holds a bow and wears a garland instead of a diadem.

    (3) Christ appears often in Revelation, and there is always
 something symbolical about the manner in which he is
 represented. In the fifth chapter, he appears under the symbol
 of a Lamb; and again, in chap. 14, it is the Lamb who stands in
 Mt. Zion. In the fourteenth verse of the same chapter one "like
 the Son of Man" is seen upon a white cloud, with a sharp sickle
 in his hand, to indicate that the harvest time has come, when
 the earth shall be reaped. In chap. 1, the Son of Man is seen,
 radiant as the sun, with a two-edged sword proceeding out of his
 mouth. In chap. 19 one sat upon a white horse, who was called
 Faithful and True, wearing upon his head many crowns, clothed in
 a vesture sprinkled with blood, and out of his mouth proceeded a
 sharp sword, emblematic of the sword of the Spirit, which is the
 word of God. The sword is constantly used as a symbol of the
 Word, which is Christ's instrumentality for reducing the world
 to his sway. The conquering Saviour is constantly pictured forth
 with the sword proceeding out of his mouth, but never appears
 with a bow.

    For these reasons I accept, in part at least, the view of
 Elliot and Barnes, and believe that a series of events affecting
 the fortunes of the church but immediately connected with the
 vast empire which embraced the whole church within its
 boundaries is signified. The first four seals, all kindred in
 their imagery, can only be satisfactorily explained by referring
 them to events in the history of that empire. The "Decline and
 Fall of the Roman Empire," by the sceptical Gibbon, is the best
 commentary on the seals. Nor do I think that the Horsemen are to
 be sought in individuals, but are representative of great
 epochs.

    The First Seal must refer to the period of prosperity and
 triumphant war closely following John's exile to Patmos. As it
 has an earthly signification, it is probable that we must look
 for an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire, beginning near
 the opening of the second century. An age which meets every
 characteristic wonderfully is the age of prosperity and conquest
 beginning with the reign of Nerva, embracing that of Trajan,
 Adrian, and the two Antonines. This glorious period has been
 called THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES. John was an exile on Patmos in
 the last year of the reign of Domitian, A.D. 96. In that year
 the tyrant was slain. The human Nerva succeeded him upon the
 Roman throne. With his reign begins a new epoch, at once the
 most brilliant and the most prosperous in Roman history. He was
 the founder of a new family of Caesars. He adopted as his son
 and successor, the war-like Trajan. His incessant wars were
 uniformly triumphant, and during his reign the Roman Empire
 reached its greatest dimensions. Vast as were the limits of the
 empire under Julius and Augustus Caesar, the empire ruled by
 Trajan was much more vast. In order to show that it was an age
 of conquest I quote Gibbon, vol. 1, p. 7.

    "The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled
     before his arms. He descended the river Tigris in triumph,
     from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian Gulf. He
     enjoyed the honour of being the first, as he was the last, of
     the Roman generals who ever navigated that remote sea. His
     fleets ravaged the coasts of Arabia; and Trajan vainly
     flattered himself that he was approaching the confines of
     India. Every day the astonished senate received the
     intelligence of new names and new nations that acknowledged
     his sway. They were informed that the kings of Bosphorus,
     Colchos, Iberia, Albania, Osrhoene, and even the Parthian
     monarch himself had accepted their diadems from the hands of
     the Emperor," etc.

    This age of conquest, when the Empire reached its greatest
 limits both in Asia and Europe, was also an age of prosperity.
 Gibbon (Vol. I, p. 95) declares that

     "If a man was called upon to fix the period in history of
     the world, during which the condition of the human race was
     most prosperous and happy, he would without hesitation name
     that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the
     accession of Commodus."

    We have found that the symbols are strikingly fulfilled in
 the epoch of Roman history, known as the age of Trajan, or of
 the Antonines, beginning with the reign of Nerva.
 (1) It began immediately after John wrote.
 (2) It was a period of prosperity.
 (3) It was the period of the mightiest extent of Roman power.
 (4) It furnished one of the mightiest conquerors of the Roman
     name.
 (5) He was entitled to wear the garland of victory.
 (6) This fulfilment is within the scope of prophecy, which
     embraces the Roman Empire.
 (7) I might add also that the bow itself may have a special
     significance. Before this age the emperors were all of Roman
     stock, and until the death of Nero were of the line of
     Julius Caesar. Nerva, the founder of a new line of six
     Caesars, was of Greek descent, and is said to have been of
     Cretan stock.  The Cretans were a race of bowmen, the most
     famous of the ancient world. Some have seen this pointed out
     in the bow.
 (Johnson TPNT 434-435)
09663
              THE FULFILMENT OF THE SECOND SEAL

    The next period is marked in the history of man by the most
 prolonged and sanguinary civil commotion that history records.
 "Peace was taken from the earth" for ninety-two years. During
 this long period of nearly a century, the Roman Empire, that
 portion of the "earth" which was the seat of civilization and of
 the Christian religion, was constantly torn by bloody contests
 between rival competitors for power. The history of this epoch
 is epitomized by Sismondi in the following language:

     "With Commodus commenced the third and most calamitous
     period. It lasted ninety-two years, from 192 to 284. During
     that period thirty-two emperors, and twenty-seven pretenders
     alternately hurled each other from the throne by incessant
     civil warfare. Ninety-two years of almost incessant civil
     warfare taught the world on what a frail foundation the
     virtue of the Antonines had placed the felicity of the
     empire."
           --Sismondi's "Fall of the Roman Empire," Vol. I, p. 36

    A full history of this dark and unhappy period is also given
 in the first volume of Gibbon. During the 92 years there were 34
 emperors, besides nineteen pretenders, known as tyrants. Of
 these all but two died violent deaths. What could more
 strikingly represent such a period of civil contention, of
 incessant warfare, of fratricidal bloodshed, then the red horse
 and its rider, to whom was given a great sword, and the power
 to take away peace, that men should kill one another?
 # Re 6:4
 I suppose that no such prolonged and terrible period of civil
 warfare can be pointed out in the history of the world, and
 there is certainly a wonderful correspondence between the vision
 and the events of history.
 (Johnson TPNT 435-436)
09664
               THE FULFILMENT OF THE THIRD SEAL

    The first and second seals mark distinct epochs, clearly
 separated from each other. We can determine the exact number of
 years that belongs to each period. It is not possible to
 separate, with the same distinctness, the events indicated by
 the third and fourth seals. The prophecies are fulfilled with
 startling accuracy, and the occurrences symbolized by each seal
 follow each other in the same order as the seals, but the events
 overlap, and are related to each other as effects to cause.
 During the terrible period of civil commotion, indicated by the
 red horse, the era of blood and anarchy produces the events
 symbolized by the black horse, and as the combined result of the
 two preceding seals there follow the events indicated by the
 pale horse. There is a period of extreme taxation, enormous
 prices, great scarcity, want and famine, due to the destruction
 of armies and untilled fields during a period of civil war of
 ninety-two years. There is first the civil war as the cause, and
 the second the scarcity and famine as an effect. I will verify
 this by historical quotations under the next seal, which also
 relates to this calamitous period.
 (Johnson TPNT 437)
09665
               THE FULFILMENT OF THE FOURTH SEAL

    Let the reader turn to the tenth chapter of the first volume
 of Gibbon's Rome. It details a condition of things which existed
 in the reign of Gallienus, when the 92 years of civil war were
 drawing towards a close about A.D. 268. During that reign
 nineteen pretenders to the throne aroused rebellions which were
 quenched in blood. The chapter closes with a passage which I ask
 the reader to compare carefully not only with
 # Re 6:7,8
 but also with
 # Re 6:6,7

     "But a long and general famine was a calamity of a more
     serious kind. It was the inevitable consequence of rapine
     and oppression, which extirpated the produce of the present
     and future harvests. Famine is almost always followed by
     epidemical diseases, the effect of scanty and unwholesome
     food. Other causes must, however, have contributed to the
     furious plague, which, from the years 250 to the year 256,
     raged without interruption in every province, every city,
     and almost every family of the Roman Empire. During some
     time five thousand persons died daily in Rome; and many
     towns that had escaped the hands of the Barbarians, were
     entirely depopulated. Applying this authentic fact to the
     most correct tables or mortality, it evidently proves, that
     above half the people of Alexandria had perished; and could
     we venture to extend the analogy of the other provinces, we
     might suspect that war, pestilence, and famine had consumed,
     in a few years, the motley of the human species."

    Note the correspondence, John in round numbers states that
 one-fourth of the people of the Roman Empire would perish;
 Gibbon furnishes data for suggesting that one-half perished.
 John assigns four causes for this awful mortality: the sword,
 hunger, pestilence and wild beasts. Of these four Gibbon names
 in the last sentence of the above quotation three, and writers
 of the period itself speak of the fourth, the scourge of
 ravenous wild beasts which had multiplied owing to the
 depopulation of great provinces.

    The first four seals, the Seals of the Horses, are
 associated. The first I have pronounced the seal of the
 Triumphant prosperity, the age of Trajan and the Antonines.
 # Re 6:1,2
 The red horse is the seal of civil war, fulfilled in the awful
 convulsions that began around A.D. 186, and agitated the whole
 civilized world.
 # Re 6:4
 The third seal, the black horse and balance, is the seal of
 want.
 # Re 6:5
 While the next, the pale horse, is the seal of death.
 # Re 6:8
 (Johnson TPNT 437-438)
09666
               THE FULFILMENT OF THE FIFTH SEAL

    The 92 years of civil turmoil began AD 192 with the death of
 Commodus. They ended in AD 284. In that year Diocletian ascended
 the Roman throne, and his reign was distinguished by the most
 terrible, most prolonged, and most general persecution known in
 the history of the ancient Church. The Church had often been
 persecuted before, but no persecution had ever been so
 universal, so long continued, and so terrible. The Emperor was
 not by nature a persecutor, but the great men of the empire,
 especially Galerius, whom he had associated in the duty of
 government, were alarmed at the astonishing progress of the new
 religion, and demanded its extirpation. At last Diocletian
 yielded, and became the leader in the effort to root out the
 religion of Christ from the very face of the earth.

    Early in AD 303 secret councils were held in Nicodemia,
 concerning the destruction of Christianity. "Perhaps," says
 Gibbon, "it was represented to Diocletian, that the glorious
 work of deliverance of the empire was left imperfect so long as
 an independent people (the Christians) were permitted to subsist
 and multiply in it." On the twenty-third of February, the first
 blow was struck. An armed force was sent to destroy the great
 church of Nicodemia, and to burn the sacred books, so carefully
 preserved in that day when the printing press was unknown. This
 was the signal for beginning a persecution which was, by the
 consent of all historians, the longest, the most general, and
 the fiercest ever waged against the Church. It is a remarkable
 fact that a chronological era, dating from the time when
 Diocletian began to reign instituted not for religious, but
 astronomical purposes, and used until the Christian era was
 introduced in the sixth century, has received its name from the
 persecution, and has been called the era of the martyrs.

    With regard to this period I make a quotation from Gibbon,
 Vol. II, p. 69:
     "The resentment, or the fears of Diocletian, at length
     transported him beyond the bounds of moderation, which he
     had hitherto preserved, and he declared, in a series of
     cruel edicts, his intention of abolishing the Christian
     name. By the first of these edicts, the governors of the
     provinces were directed to apprehend all persons of the
     ecclesiastical order; and the prisons, destined for the
     vilest criminals, were soon filled with a multitude of
     bishops, presbyters, deacons, readers and exorcists. By a
     second edict, the magistrates were commanded to employ every
     method of severity, which might reclaim them from their
     odious superstition, and oblige them to return to the
     established worship of gods. This rigorous order was
     extended, by a subsequent edict, to the whole body of
     Christians, who were exposed to a violent and general
     persecution."
 This terrible persecution, conducted with such vindictive fury
 that sometimes church buildings were surrounded by soldiers, the
 doors locked and the congregations burned in them, continued for
 over ten years.

    In the answer to the martyrs there are three things that are
 noteworthy.
 # Re 6:11
 First, it is said that they must await the great judgment, which
 would not be until another distinct set of martyrs was slain.
 These are evidently the martyrs slain, not by pagan Rome, but by
 anti-Christ. Second, they must wait "a little season." This
 season is to be measured by God's standard, and not by ours.
 Third, there were given unto them white robes. White robes are
 a symbol of justification and of triumph. "The white robes are
 given to him that overcometh." These souls are not in the inner
 sanctuary, the type of heaven, but under the altar of the outer
 court, the type of the world. The white robes, therefore, imply
 their triumph and justification upon the earth. This came within
 twenty-five years of their suffering, through the formal
 acceptance of Christianity by the Roman Empire.
 (Johnson TPNT 438-439)
09667
                  THE MEANING OF THE SIXTH SEAL

    Many have explained this startling symbolism to describe the
 closing scenes of the world and the personal coming of Christ to
 judgment. This cannot be the meaning, for the series of visions
 continues on until the seventh seal is opened, and all it
 contains is exhausted. Others have supposed that the rush of the
 northern race which overthrew the Roman Empire is meant. I
 believe that it refers to great events which have long since
 taken place. The various phenomena in earth and sky, the
 earthquake, the falling stars, the heavens rolled away, the
 mountains and islands moved out of their places, all foreshadow
 a violent, bloody, remarkable upheaval of systems, rulers,
 governments, kingdoms, and the establishment of a new order upon
 the earth. It is on earth, it is in history that we are to look
 for the fulfilment of the prophecy. And since the "earth" that
 is present to the mind of John is the civilized world known to
 the ancients, the Roman Empire, it is within its boundaries that
 we must look for the fulfilment. There can be no doubt that
 this is the seal of revolution.
 (Johnson TPNT 440)
09668
                THE FULFILMENT OF THE SIXTH SEAL

    Several circumstances help us to fix the meaning.
    (1) The time. It follows immediately after the great
 persecution indicated by the fifth seal, which closed in AD 311.
 These events occur, then, near that time.
    (2) It is a time of blood and mourning. Who are the mourners?
 Kings, great men, rich men, bondmen and freemen. Are these
 Christians? They are enemies of the Lamb, who fear his wrath and
 mourn over his power. The mourners are the opposers of the
 Church.
 # Re 6:16
    (3) The seal is followed by a period of great joy and
 prosperity on the part of the Church. (see chap. 7). An
 innumerable multitude are sealed with the seal of the Lamb, of
 which the next chapter gives record.

    Have we, near AD 311, the time when the great persecution
 closed, a period of mighty revolution, that filled the
 unbelieving world with mourning, and which was followed by a
 time of triumph, and which was followed by a time of triumph,
 prosperity and glory to the Church of Christ? In the year 312,
 leaving Britain, marching through Gaul, Constantine launched his
 armies upon Italy. The Church watched his progress with singular
 interest; for although he had, as yet, made no profession of
 Christianity, his mother, Helena, was a Christian, and it was
 felt that he was favourable to his mother's faith. The Italian
 emperor opposed to him, Maxentus, was defeated and in the last
 was slain, and Constantine became the ruler of Rome. In the East
 another emperor, Licinius, a Pagan and a persecutor, still held
 the reins of power. Wars, truces and battles followed, until in
 AD 324 he was crushed and put to death. In this period of
 conflict, lasting about sixteen years, six emperors in all
 strove for the pre-eminence, of whom Constantine remained the
 sole survivor.

    But these are not the most remarkable changes of this period.
 Let us note these:
    (1) The votaries of the old Paganism had rallied around the
 enemies of Constantine, because he was felt to be its
 unrelenting foe, who would compass its destruction. When he was
 seated in triumph upon the ruins of six imperial thrones, there
 was great mourning from the enemies of the Cross. They felt that
 theirs was a doomed religion. They were right.
    (2) In the year 319, before his final triumph, he had decreed
 that his mother's religion should be tolerated as an
 acknowledged faith of the empire.
    (3) In 321 he decreed that Sunday, the sacred day of
 Christianity, should be observed in all the cities by the
 cessation of trade and labour.
    (4) In 325 he abolished by decree the bloody combats of the
 gladiators, where men killed each other to amuse the populace, a
 Roman institution that had existed for a thousand years.
    (5) He convoked, by imperial authority, a great council of
 Christian bishops, the one known in history as the Council of
 Nice.
    (6) In 331 he decreed that the Pagan religion should exist no
 longer, and that all the heathen temples should be levelled, or
 converted into churches.
    (7) At the same time the old Roman laws were remodelled
 according to the precepts of the Christian religion, and a Pagan
 empire was transformed into an empire of the Christian faith,
 under new institutions. Surely the old heavens were moved away
 as a scroll is gathered together.

    But this is not all. I name another wonderful change of this
 age of revolution. In 324 he determined to shake the Roman world
 to its very centre, and to deprive the imperial city of the
 crown worn for eleven centuries, by removing the capital from
 Italy to a new city upon the banks of the Hellespont, that
 should henceforth be called Constantinople, from his own name.
 The mighty mountain of the West is moved from its place.

    Not only do these revolutions, the greatest in the history of
 the world, fulfil the imagery, but the mournings of the heathen
 in that age almost adopted the language of Revelation in
 describing this period. The ruin of the Pagan religion is
 described by the Sophists, says Gibbon, "as a dreadful and
 amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness, and
 restored the ancient dominion of chaos and night."

    Those who insist that the opening of the sixth seal portrays
 the end of the world should bear in mind, not only the chain of
 events continues on through the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th
 chapters, and that it is only when the Seventh Angel sounds his
 trumpet that the proclamation is made that "the kingdoms of this
 world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ,"
 # Re 11:15
 but they should keep in mind also that the scenes beheld by John
 are not literal pictures of the events, but symbolic visions.
 The interpreter should ask himself not, What would be the
 literal fulfilment of the visions? but, What do the symbols
 signify? The earthquake, the blackened sun, the falling stars,
 the moving mountains and islands of the sixth seal are not to be
 regarded as literal any more than the pale horse in the fourth
 seal.
 (Johnson TPNT 440-441)
09669
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