" beginning," and "from the beginning with God*." The apostle to the Hebrews enforces the same notion of our Lord's eternity, when he calls him " Jesus "Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for evert." He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the original Creator, and the final Judge, of the world; to whose illustrious advent, and final triumph over his enemies (as being the grand catastrophe of the Apocalypse) the prophet, who had already seen it exhi-X bited in vision, exultingly adverts, even before he begins his narration. This was natural, in one who had seen such a vision, but it would not easily have occurred in a work of mere imagination and art. * John i. 1. 13. v. 26. 19. 22. xiv. 11. xvi, 15, also Col. i. 16. 17. Heb. i. 2, 3, 8. 1 John v. 20. † Heb. xiii. 8, PART I, SECTION III. The Appearance of the Lord Jesus with the Symbols of his Power; and the Commission given by him to Saint John to write what he beholds. 9 Ἐγὼ Ἰωάννης, ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν, ή συἱκοινωνὸς ἐν τῇ θλίψει κὶ βασιλείᾳ καὶ ὑπομονῃ Ἰησᾶ Χρισῦ, ἐγενόμην ἐν τῇ νήσῃ τῇ καλύ CHAP. I. VER. 9-to the end. 191 John, your brother, 19 I John, who also am and fellow-sharer in ὀπίσω με φωνὴν 11 pet, Saying, "That 11 pet, Saying, I am ἑπιὰ λυχνίας χρυ midst of the seven seven golden candle the Son of man, clothed with a long 13 σᾶς, Καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπλὰ λυχνιῶν ὅμοιον ὑτῷ ἀνθρώπε, ἐνδεδυμένον ποδήρη, καὶ περιεζωσμένον πρὸς τοῖς μαςοῖς 14 ζώνην χρυσῆν· Ἡ δὲ κεφαλὴ αὐτῶ κὶ αἱ τρίχες λευ καὶ, ὡσεὶ ἔξιον λευκὸν, ὡς χιών κὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῦ ὡς φλὸξ πυρὸς. 15 Καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτῶ ὅμοιοι χαλκολιβά garment down to the feet, and girt about the breasts with a 14 golden girdle; His head and his hair white, as white wool, 14 girdle. His head and smelting brass, as if lamp-bearers one like 13 sticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, cloathed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden as if they burned in a furnace: and his voice as the sound of 16 many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword, and his νῳ, ὡς ἐν καμίνω ἡ φωνὴ αὐτῷ ὡς voice as the voice of πιπυρωμένοι· καὶ 16 many waters; And having in his right hand seven stars, and from his mouthatwoedged sharp sword coming forth; and his countenance as the Sun shineth in his φωνὴ ὑδάτων πολ 16 λῶν· Καὶ ἔχων ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτῷ χειρί ατέρας ἑπλά· καὶ ἐκ τὸ σόματος αὐτῶ ῥομφαία δίσομος ὀξεῖα ἐκπορευομένη ̇ 17 power. And when I καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτῶ, ὡς ὁ ἥλιος φαίνει ἐν τῇ δυνάμει αὑτῶ. 17 Καὶ ὅτε εἶδον αὐτὸν, ἔπεσα αρὸς τὸς πόδας αὐτῇ ὡς saw him, I fell at his feet, as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying [to 18 me] "Fear not; I am νεκρός· καὶ ἐπέθηκε τὴν δεξιὰν αὐτῶ ἐπ ̓ ἐμὲ, λέγων [μοι]· Μὴ φοβέ "the first and the "last, and he who "liveth; and I was "dead, and behold I "am alive for ever ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχαλος, 18 Καὶ ὁ ζῶν· καὶ ἐγενόμην νεκρὸς, καὶ ἰδὰ ζῶν εἰμι εἰς τὰς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· καὶ ἔχω τὰς κλῶς τὸ θανάτε καὶ τῷ 19 ᾄδε. Γράψον ὧν ὰ εἶδες, και ἃ εἰσι, καὶ ἀμέλλει γίνησθαι μετὰ ταῦτα. 20 "and ever; and I "have the keys of "Death and of hell. " Write therefore 19 "those things which "thou seest, even "the things which "are present, and "which are about to "be after these: The "mystery of the 20 after, The mystery countenance was as the sun shineth in 17 his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead: and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the 18 first and the last : I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be here 20 Τὸ μυςήριον τῶν ἁπλὰ ἀγέρων, ὧν εἶδες ἐπὶ τῆς δεξιᾶς με, καὶ τὰς ἑπλὰ λυχνίας τὰς χρυ "seven stars which seven of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Ver. 9. I John, &c.] Who this John was, and why, and whither banished, may be seen in note, c. i. 1. His dignity, as an apostle, and as a prophet favoured with this vision, and honoured with this commission, was at all events considerable; but, in the spirit of the Gospel, he calls himself only a brother, as his Lord had called himself before him, and a fellowsharer in the afflictions which the faithful were then suffering, under the persecution of Domitian. But to partake the sufferings of Christ, is to partake also his kingdomt, which are here therefore emphatically united... For the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.] The sense of this expression becomes clear, by comparing it with chap. vi. 9, where the Martyrs are represented as having suffered δια τον λογον τε Θες και δια μαρτυρίαν ἡν είχον, " for the word of God, and for the "testimony which they bare." John was, like them, a persecuted sufferer and confessor, in the Island of Patmos, to which he was banished for his adherence to the faith, and where he was favoured with this vision ‡. Ver. 10. I was in the Spirit.] It is in vain to inquire the exact manner in which these sacred visions were communicated. The Jewish writers have said much upon the subject, but nothing which can satisfy a rational and sober mind. So far however is plain from Ezek. ii. 2. iii. 24. 2 Cor. xii. 2. and other passages of Scripture, that the prophet commonly perceived the impulse of the Spirit acting upon him in a sudden and extraordinary manner; yet so mysteriously, that John xx. 17. † Euseb. Eccl. Ilist. lib. iii. cap. 18. † 2 Tim. ii. 12. Saint Paul affirms that he could not tell whether it was " in the body or out of the body," that he was present in the heavens. Saint John perceived this movement of the Spirit upon him, when the heavenly voice called to him. He represents it, as it struck his senses, coming from behind him, and thus affecting him with more sudden surprise; it was loud, and as of a trumpet, the signal of war; it was fearful and alarming*. The trumpet was the voice of God, at the awful delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai, and so shall be again at the consummation of the world †. Ver. 11. See notes on verses 4 and 8. Ver. 12. Seven golden lamp-bearers.] These are ex plained afterwards (v. 20.) to signify the seven Churches, or the universal Church of Christ. They are not the lamps or lights, but the bearers of them; they are the instruments, on which the lights being suspended, illuminate the Christian world. Spiritual knowledge is frequently represented in Scripture, under the emblem of a light or lamp. Numerous are the instances; but see in particular Mat. v. 14, 15, and the parallel passages, and Ezek. iv. 2. Agreeably to which, in Rev. iv. 5. seven lamps of fire are used to express the gifts of the Divine Spirit; but the receptacle of religious knowledge, the station from which it is communicated, is the lamp-bearer or candlestick; and by this is denoted the Church of Christ. So Irenæus, who, alluding to this passage, says, Ubique enim ecclesia prædicat veritatem, et hæc est ἑπταμυχος (aliter ἑπταμυξος) * Joel ii. 1. Amos iii. 6. 1 Cor. xiv. 8. † 1 Thess. iv. 16. 1 Cor. xy. 52. See note, ver. 4. Lucerna, |