The chapters of this volume are numbered according to the numbers of the chapters of the Apocalypse; so that the fourth chapter of this work is an exposition of the fourth chapter of the Apocalypse, and so on to the eleventh inclusive.
THE THRONE COVENANTED TO THE SON OF DAVID
ESTABLISHED IN THE HOUR OF JUDGMENT
TRANSLATION
APOC. IV.
- After these things I looked, and behold a Door opened in the heaven, and that first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Ascend hither, and I will exhibit to thee things which must come to pass after these.”
- And immediately I was in spirit: and behold a Throne was established in the heaven, and upon the throne One sitting. 3. And the One sitting was in appearance like to a jasper and sardine stone, and a Rainbow circled about the throne in appearance like to an emerald.
4. And circling about the throne were Twenty-four thrones: and upon the thrones I saw the twenty and four Elders sitting, having been invested with white garments; and they had upon their heads golden coronal wreaths. 5. And out of the throne burst forth lightnings and thunders and voices: and SEVEN Lamps OF Fire burning before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits of the Deity. 6. And before the throne a translucent sea like to crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and in the circle of the throne, FOUR Living Ones, being full of eyes before and behind.
7. And the First Living One was like to a Lion; and the Second Living One like to a Calf; and the Third Living One having the face like to a Man; and the Fourth Living One like to an Eagle flying. 8. And the Four Living Ones, one by itself, had each six wings circling about it; and within they were full of EYES; and they have no intermission day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, the Omnipotent Deity, who was and who is and who is coming.
9. And when the Living Ones shall give glory, and honour, and thanks, to the One sitting upon the throne, who liveth for the Aions of the Aions, the twenty and four Elders fall before the One sitting upon the throne, and they do homage to Him who liveth for the Aions of the Aions, and they cast their coronals before the throne, saying, 11. “Worthy art thou, O Lord, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; thou createdst all things, and on account of thy will they exist, and were created.”
SECTION I.
A DOOR OPENED IN THE HEAVEN, AND THE LOUD TRUMPET VOICE
"After these things 1 looked, and behold a DOOR OPENED in the heaven, and that first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Ascend hither, and / will exhibit to thee things which must come to pass after these. ” — Verse 1,
In the English version, the fourth chapter of the Apocalypse begins with the words “after this;” as if the Spirit referred to one particular thing noted in the previous chapter, after which the subject of the fourth was to be initiated. But the original phrase is meta tauta, and should be rendered “after these things;” the Spirit thereby intimating a plurality of things to be accomplished before the establishment of the throne.
The things to be perfected before the setting up of the kingdom were those styled in ch. 1:19, “the things which are.” This sentence must be interpreted of the things existing while John was in Patmos. There are three sets of things indicated in ch. 1:9: first, “the things thou hast seen;” second, “the things which are;” and, third, “the things which shall come to pass, meta tauta, after these.” The first set consisted of the Seven Lightstands, the Son of Man, and the Seven Stars; the second, of the things treated of in the epistles to the Seven Ecclesias in relation to their spiritual condition, which was developing itself into irremediable apostacy and delusion; and the third, of the things to be accomplished after the removal of the lightstands out of their place in the ecclesias — ch. 2:5; after the tribulation of the ten days — ch. 2:10; after fighting against the Balaamites with the sword of the Spirit's mouth; after the casting of Jezebel into a bed, and them who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, and the killing of her children with death — ch. 2:22; after his coming upon the dead in trespasses and sins as a thief— ch. 3:1,3; and after the Spirit had spued them out of his mouth — ch. 3:16. These things were all to come to pass before the promises affixed to each epistle could be fulfilled; which promises in their development in the 'Hour of Judgment” — ch. 15:7 — are symbolized in ch. 4:2-11
But as to the time that was to elapse from the epocn of John’s abode in Patmos to the opening of a door in the heavens, or from the spuing of the sevenfold ecclesia in Laodicean manifestation out of the Spirit’s mouth, to the establishment of the throne in the opened heavens, it is not stated in this chapter how long. As I have shown, the ecclesia (a remnant only excepted), transformed into “the Holy Catholic Church,” had been spued out in the Constantine Era; still “the Church” continued. Jezebel and Balaam still flourish in the heavenlies, or high places of the earth; where they revel in all the pleasures of sin, and in the enjoyment of all the rewards of unrighteousness, the Gentile Balac, the son of Bosor, or the world-rulers of “the state” can bestow. As we have shown, Jezebel is representative of what Papists and Protestants agree to call “the Church,” which maintains its ascendancy until the opening of a door “in the heavens;” and Balaam is representative of the Clerical Orders of “the church” which will also prevail as “the spirituals of the wickedness in the heavenlies” (Eph. 6:12), until the throne is set. This is the order of things pertaining to the course intermediate between Constantine, A.D. 312-337, and the apocalypse of the Sons of the Deity, which is near at hand. In all this long period of over sixteen hundred and twenty years, Laodiceanism has prevailed in the form of the Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth, the Image of the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Scarlet-colored Beast bearing Jezebel, the Mother of Harlots, and of All the Abominations of the earth. The root of all these things is that Mystery of Iniquity at work in the Christian community in Paul’s day — 2 Thess. 2:7. It was then only being sown by those wolves in sheep’s clothing he predicted would arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. In this they succeeded marvellously; so that the true believers were reduced to a mere remnant, which at the present time is too inconsiderable to command the respectful attention of “the church”.
But this Jezebel and Balaamite Mystery of Iniquity which continues to the adventual epoch, is to be consumed by the Spirit of the Lord's mouth, and utterly destroyed by the manifestation of his presence. Such is the testimony of Paul and Daniel, to say nothing of the rest. Now, this consuming and destroying manifestation of spirit is what John saw when he “looked and beheld a door opened in the heaven” of the apocalypse. What he saw is the epiphany, or manifestation of the Spirit’s parousia, or presence. He beheld it in belligerent operation; for “out of the throne,” he says, “proceed lightnings and thunders and voices,” which are the symbols of war.