Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER IX.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION: CHRIST'S MESSAGE TO SPIRITUAL ISRAEL.

"Christ [is] the Revelator." G.C. 342. The book of Revelation was written for the church of Jesus Christ. See Rev. 1:11; 22:16; 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22, etc. "In figures and symbols, subjects of vast importance were presented to John . . . that the people of God ... might have an intelligent understanding of the perils and conflicts before them." A.A. 583-586. "To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest in the experience of the church. He saw the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God. Subjects of vast importance were revealed to him, especially for the last church, that those who turn from error to truth might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them." G.C. 341, 342.

As already shown, Old Testament terminology is employed spiritually in the New Testament in describing the church—spiritual Israel. This principle is especially manifest in the Revelation. All that comes into the Revelation: is mentioned as either belonging to Israel, or to her foes. The latter are mentioned only because they are the enemies of God and His people. Because of their opposition as a counterfeiting system, Israel's enemies are described in similar language to that pertaining to Israel.

Because of the imagery pertaining to Israel so abundantly used in the book of Revelation, futurists say that it is a book largely pertaining to the literal Jew in Palestine. Failure to understand the New Testament principle that Old Testament terminology is now employed in a spiritual, world-wide sense in connection with the church is responsible for much theological confusion. "Israel" is the key-word which unlocks prophetic problems—especially those in the book of Revelation. Only as they relate to the church can the prophecies be fully understood. Many commentators rightly emphasize that "the symbolism of the Revelation is wholly and exclusively Jewish": only spiritual Israelites can understand the prophecies of the Apocalypse. It is estimated that at least 550 quotations from the Old Testament are found in the book of Revelation. The following extract from "The Revelation of St. John," by Prof W. Milligan, D.D., pp. 27-30, illustrates what others have pointed out concerning the exclusively Jewish nature of the Revelation:

"The Christian church, even among the Gentiles, had been grafted upon the stem of David. She had an interest in Zion and Jerusalem; she saw in Babylon the type of her enemies; she felt herself to be the true Israel of God. She was well acquainted with the tabernacle and the temple, with their pillars and incense, with their different altars, with the high priest's robes, with the seven-branched golden candlesticks, with the ark of the testimony, with the hidden manna, and with the parchment rolls written both within and on the back. These symbols were therefore closely adapted to her condition and must have gone home to her with peculiar power.

"But the symbolism of the Revelation is wholly and exclusively Jewish. Even 'the crown of life' in Chap. 2:10 [Rev. 2:10] is not the wreath of the victor in Grecian games, but the Hebrew crown of royalty and joy—the crown of `King Solomon, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the gladness of his heart.' Song of Sol. 3:11 [Sng. 3:11]. The 'white stone,' with the new name written in it, of chapter 2:17 [Rev. 2:17], is not suggested by the white pebble which cast in heathen courts of justice into the ballot box, expressed the judge's acquittal of the prisoner at the bar, but in all probability by the glistering plate borne by the high priest upon his forehead. And all good commentators are agreed that the palms of chapter 7:9 [Rev. 7:9] are not the palms of heathen victors either in battle or the games, but the palms of the Feast of Tabernacles when, in the most joyful of all her national festivals, Israel celebrated that life of independence on which she entered when she marched from Rameses to Succoth, and exchanged her dwellings in the hot brickfields of Egypt for the free air of the wilderness, and the 'booths' which she erected in the open country. The symbols of the Apocalypse are to be judged of with the feelings of a Jew, and not with those of our own country or age."

After presenting other "Israel" features in the Revelation, Prof. Milligan continues:

"If from the trumpets we turn to the bowls the following particulars claim our notice:

1. The very mention of bowls at once connects us, not with the world, but with the church The vessels so designated were not vials, but bowls or basins, broad and shallow, rather than narrow and deep. They were the gifts presented by the princes of the twelve tribes of Israel for the service of the Tabernacle, Num. 7, and they were used for offering on the golden altar of the sanctuary, the incense which had been kindled by coals from the altar in the court. They were instruments of religious service, and were peculiarly fitted, according to the law of recompense in kind, pervading the whole Apocalypse to contain those judgments of the Almighty, which were designed . . . for the faithless church. . . . [The plagues, primarily, fall upon spiritual Babylon—the apostate church.]
   
2. A similar remark applies to the fact that, as mentioned in chapter 15:6 [Rev. 15:6], the angels which bear the seven last plagues, come forth from the `temple' or innermost shrine of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven, dressed as priests in pure white linen, and with golden girdles." pp. 54, 55.

"The Book is absolutely steeped in the memories, the incidents, the thoughts, and the language of the church's past. To such an extent is this the case that it may be doubted whether it contains a single figure not drawn from the Old Testament, or a single complete sentence not more or less built up of materials from the same source. Nothing can convey a full and adequate impression upon the point, except the careful study of the book itself in this particular aspect of its contents." p. 72.

And then he enumerates examples of the many persons, places, incidents, etc., associated with ancient Israel and mentioned in the Revelation. Prof. Milligan then continues:

"The great earthquake of chapter 6 is taken from Haggai; the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon becoming blood of the same chapter, from Joel; the stars of heaven falling, the fig tree casting her untimely figs, the heavens departing as a scroll, in the same chapter, from Isaiah; the locusts of chapter 9 from Joel; the gathering of the vine of the earth in chapter 14 from Joel; and the treading of the winepress in the same chapter, from Isaiah; the wings of the eagle upon which the woman is borne for protection to the wilderness are those of Deuteronomy and Isaiah, and the whole description of the New Jerusalem in chapter 21, is moulded upon Ezekiel.

"If we look at several of the larger visions, we shall have the same lesson brought home to us—that of the throne in heaven in chapter 4, having its prototype in Isaiah and Ezekiel; that of the opening of the seals in chapter 6, in Zechariah; that of the beast from the sea in chapter 13, in Daniel; that of the olive trees in chapter 11, in Zechariah; that of the measuring of the temple in chapter 21, in Ezekiel and Zechariah; that of the little book in chapter 10, in Ezekiel.

"Or, once more, if we take any single vision and examine its detail, we shall find that its various portions are often gathered out of different prophets, or different parts of the same prophet. Thus, in the very first vision of the book, that of the glorified Redeemer, in chapter 1: 12-20 [Rev. 1:12-20], the golden candlesticks are taken from Exodus and Zechariah; the garment down to the foot, from Exodus and Daniel; the golden girdle, from Isaiah and Daniel; the hairs like white wool, from the same two prophets; the feet like unto burnished brass, from Ezekiel; the two-edged sword, from Isaiah; and the Psalms; the countenance as the sun shineth in his strength, from Exodus; the falling of the Seer as dead at the feet of the person who appears to him, from Exodus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the laying of the right hand of Jesus upon the Seer, from Daniel.

"It is impossible to enlarge without going over every chapter, verse, and clause of the book, which is a perfect mosaic of passages from the Old Testament, at one time quoted verbally, at another referred to in distinct allusion, now taken from one scene in Jewish history: and now again from two or three together. . The sacred books of his people had been more than familiar to him. They had penetrated his whole being. In the whole extent of sacred or religious literature there is to be found nowhere else such a perfect fusion of the revelation given to Israel with the mind of one who would either express Israel's ideas., or give utterance, by means of the symbols supplied by Israel's history, to the purest and most elevated thoughts of the Christian faith.” pp. 75, 76.

"If from persons, we turn to places the same rule is observable. Jerusalem and Mount Zion and Babylon and the Euphrates and Sodom and Egypt, all familiar to us in the history of Israel, play their part in order to denote the holiness and happiness of the saints, or the coming in of judgment, or the transgressors from whom the righteous must separate themselves. The battle of Har-Magedon has undoubted reference to one or the other, if not both, of the two great slaughters connected in the Old Testament with the plain of Megiddo—Judges 5:19; Ps. 83:9; 2 Kings 23:29.. . .

"While nothing can explain the last attack upon the saints as a gathering of Gog and Magog from the four corners of the earth, but the fact that these names had already been consecrated to a similar purpose in the prophecies of Ezekiel (chaps. 38, 39)." Ibid. 72, 73

"A Commentary of the Bible, by Bishops and other Clergy of the Anglican Church," says concerning Rev. 20:8:

"The terms 'Camp' and 'City' arc images borrowed from the condition of Israel in the wilderness, and in the Promised Land. Ex. 14:19; Ps. 107:36."

The "Hebrew" emphasis runs throughout the Apocalypse. Even to many Greek words John gives a "strong Hebrew colouring." Notice the following extract taken from the pen of Prof. W. Milligan, D.D.:

"The writer does, then, intentionally Hebraise. , . . Nothing can be more decided that his statement (Ewald's) that the imitation of Hebrew idiom in the Apocalypse goes so far as to lead to many a change in Greek construction with the view of imitating the constructions of the Hebrew tongue." Milligan's "The Revelation of St. John," p. 260.

Referring to Rev. 9:11, the Professor states:

"When we turn to the root of the Greek name Apollyon . . . we discover that it expresses the same meaning as the Hebrew."

Uriah Smith, in his "Daniel and the Revelation," p. 479, in commenting upon Rev. 9:11, says: "His name. In Hebrew, 'Abaddon,' the destroyer; in Greek, 'Apollyon,' one that exterminates, or destroys, Having two different names in two languages, it is evident that the character, rather than the name of the power, is intended to be represented . . . as expressed in both languages he is a destroyer."

In describing the destruction of the enemies of the church, John is careful to emphasise the symbolic "place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev. 16:16. As the character of the power and not its literal name is expressed in the Hebrew name of Rev. 9:11, so it is because of the character or the meaning "in the Hebrew tongue" of the word Armageddon that it is mentioned in Rev. 16:16. The meaning of Armageddon is given by Christopher Wordsworth: "Armageddon or Harmageddon is formed of two Hebrew words, the one, har, signifying a mountain, the other a cutting to pieces; and thus it means the mountain of excision or slaughter." For further consideration of the meaning of the Hebrew word Armageddon, see chapter on "The Significance of the Meaning of Names Mentioned in Connection with the Great Battle of Armageddon."

Ellicott's Commentary states:

"'The Greek is moulded by the Hebrew tendencies of the writer.' ... Thus the strong Hebrew colouring is precisely what we should expect from one . . . constantly talking over Messianic hopes and prophecies." pp. 5, 6.

'The prevalence of Hebraic influences noticeable in the Apocalypse might well fit in with the later date." p. 11.

"The interpreter is too readily caught by external resemblances, and pays too little heed to inner spiritual and ethical principles. . . . Of these principles the chief seem to be the following: (1) the root passages in the Old Testament prophecies must be considered." p. 12, 15.

In "The New Testament in Greek, General Epistles and Revelation," Bishop C. Wordsworth states:

"The diction of the Book of Revelation is more Hebraistic than that of any other portion of the New Testament. It adopts Hebrew idioms and Hebrew words. It studiously disregards the laws of Gentile Syntax, and even courts anomalies and solecisms; it christianizes Hebrew words and sentiments, and clothes them in an evangelical dress, and consecrates them to Christ. Thus, for instance, it never uses the Greek form Hierosoluma, but always employs the Hebrew Hierusalem; and by this name it never designates the literal Sion, but the Christian church."

By many illustrations Bishop Wordsworth shows the Hebrew setting, sentiment, etc., prevailing throughout the Revelation. He further says:

"In a similar spirit of genuine catholicity, expanding the mind, and spiritualizing the language of the Jewish nation, and investing them with the light of the Gospel, the Apocalypse designates the Universal Church of Christ under the terms of a Hebrew nomenclature by the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.' Thus it extends the view of the Hebrew people, and enlarges the walls of Sion and the borders of Palestine till they embrace within their ample range the family of mankind. . . . The Apocalypse also elevates the heart and voice of the Hebrew nation, even to the court of the church glorified. Here the Hebrew language sounds in the solemn service of the heavenly ritual, in which the angelic choir sing praises to God, Amen, Hallelujah. . . . It deals in a similar way with Hebrew prophecy. It is characteristic of Hebrew prophecy to repeat the same predictions at different times. The Apocalypse proceeds on a similar plan."

How true are the words of A. W. Anderson in "The World's Finale," pp. 69-72:

"The 'four corners of the earth, and the four winds of the earth, are evidently phrases which are meant to convey the idea of the world-wide extent of the conditions which the Relevator is describing. The seal of the living God. and the white robes, and the twelve tribes are also symbols, for no one would suppose that a literal seal was to be actually stamped upon the foreheads of God's servants; nor that the saints literally washed their robes in the blood of Christ nor that the sealing work was confined to the twelve literal tribes of Israel, of whom all means of identification have been lost for many centuries... . Much of the real meaning of such passages of Scripture as Rev. 7 is lost when an attempt is made to deal with them literally. Beautiful truths are revealed in these symbolic passages, once we can define the symbolism which is used . . Ezekiel, in describing a vision of judgment which was given to him, tells us of a man with a writer's inkhorn going through the midst of Jerusalem setting a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sighed for all the abominations that were done therein."

Thus commentators and expositors point out that only in the light of Israel—only as a revelation to spiritual Israel—can the prophecies of the Apocalypse be understood.

THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE AND ARMAGEDDON UNDERSTOOD BY SPIRITUAL ISRAELITES.

Only spiritual Israelites can fully accept the Third Angel's Message. It can be understood only in the light of the literal types of ancient Israel's sanctuary services. The complete understanding of "Armageddon," also, is known only by spiritual Israelites. It can be understood only in the light of the typical battles fought between Israel and her foes. In the Old Testament, Megiddo is mentioned as the place of Israel's conflict with Satan-led forces, who were destroyed there (Judges 5:19-21) "and there was not a man left." Judg. 4:16. Because of its historical connection with Israel's victory and the place of the destruction of her enemies, as well as for the significance of its meaning, Megiddo is symbolically referred to in Rev. 16:16. Jesus, the Revelator, refers to "a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." The emphasis is not upon the place, but upon the meaning of the name in the Hebrew tongue "the mountain of slaughter," referring to the slaughter of the enemies of Israel. The beast and the false prophet are mentioned in the Revelation only because they are Israel's enemies.

The dragon, also, is mentioned only because it symbolizes "the kings, and rulers and governors" (T.M. 39) who enforce the keeping of Sunday, the counterfeit of the Sabbath, which is the "sign" between God and Israel. Ex. 31:13-18.

"The prophets of Israel" must prepare "the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." Ezek. 13:2, 5. Through His Sabbath message, God calls spiritual Israel to prepare for the coming storm. See Rev. 7:1-4. The angels are holding back the winds of universal strife and trouble until the sealing "of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Verses 5-8 name the twelve tribes of Israel who are sealed and thus assured God's protection (see E.W. 43) during the world-wide carnage which will follow when the angels let go "the four winds of the earth." "Armageddon" is to be considered only as it is related to Israel and her enemies. As Israel is protected in all the world, so the Armageddon slaughter from which they are sheltered is also worldwide.

In the midst of His description concerning Armageddon, Jesus addresses the members of spiritual Israel: "Behold, I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walked naked, and they see his shame." Rev. 16:15. Commenting on Rev. 16:15, "The New Testament Pocket Commentary" says: "May allude to the Jewish watchman. The `man of the mountain,' as he was called, used to go around the temple, and if he found any of the watchmen asleep, would set fire to their clothes. If they were compelled to appear in them the next day, it would cause them much shame." That Christ should refer to a symbolical "place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" and, in the midst of a description of the events connected with that slaughter, address spiritual Israel, referring to a Jewish custom, is congruous only when Armageddon is understood as the slaughter of the enemies of Israel.

ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS.

Old Testament terminology is employed spiritually in the New Testament. Because ancient Israel was a nation, the church is said to be a nation. Because ancient Israel's enemies were nations, the enemies of the church are referred to by national terms. Because Israel's enemies gathered against her and assaulted Jerusalem, the enemies of the church are also described as gathering against the Israel of God—the spiritual Jerusalem, Because the ancient people of God came out of the land of their captivity and gathered to their own land, spiritual Israel is said to "come out" of the land of spiritual captivity (Rev. 18:4) and "gather" to their own spiritual land. See Isa. 11:11, 12; E.W., pp. 74-76.

In our interpretation of the Old Testament we must be guided by New Testament teachings. "The way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jer. 10:23; Prov. 3:5; etc. The Scriptures must be their own expositor. T.M. 476, 106. Were this counsel heeded, passages such as Joel 3; Ezek. 38, 39; Zech. 14; Rev. 16:12-16, etc., which depict a gathering of nations against Israel, would not be interpreted to refer to the literal Jews in Palestine, but to a gathering, or uniting of spiritual forces against spiritual Israel.

According to Dr. Strong, the Hebrew word for nation means: "A foreign nation; hence a . . . Gentile, heathen, nation, people." According to the same authority, the Greek word for nation means: "A race . . . a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually by impl. pagan): Gentile, heathen, nation, people." In Scripture the word is usually employed in contrast to the nation of Israel. When mentioned in relation to the closing conflict, "nations," "gentiles," "heathen" must be interpreted as enemies of spiritual Israel. A comparison of Isa. 9:1-3 with Matt. 4:14-16 shows that the words "nations" and "gentiles" are used for "peoples." In Ephes. 2:11, 12 we have the inspired interpretation of the word "gentiles"–those who are not Israelites. In Rev. 11:2 the Papal persecutors of the church are said to be "gentiles." A person who is not a member of spiritual Israel is an "heathen man." Matt. 18:17. That the term "gentile," or "heathen" is used in Scripture to designate those out of Christ, or the enemies of God's people, is completely sustained by the writings of the servant of the Lord. For examples, see E.W., pp. 282-284, and G.C. 618, 635, where "heathen" is the word employed when referring to the enemies o f the church. See "What is Armageddon?" pp. 7-10.

Joel 3; Ezek. 38, 39, etc., depict the gathering, or uniting of the "nations," "heathen," or "gentiles" against spiritual Israel, and their destruction outside spiritual Jerusalem. The final conflict will be waged "without the city." Rev. 14:20. "The fugitives whom the Eternal calls shall be inside Jerusalem." Moffatt's Trans. Joel 2:32.

The fact that the church is definitely called a "nation" (1 Pet. 2:9; Matt. 21:43) shows that the word is employed in the New Testament without reference to armies or military strength. As already shown, the word "nation" is used for "people." Depicting the gathering of the "heathen," "gentiles," "nations" against Israel, Joel 3 describes them as "multitudes" gathered into the valley of judgment. Jesus speaks of the nations as being made up of sheep and goats—the people of God, and the unsaved. See Matt. 25:31-33. The leaves of the tree of life are "for the healing of the nations." Rev. 22:2. "The glory and honour of the nations" will be brought into the "New Jerusalem." Rev. 21:26. "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it." Rev. 21:24. In these three references it is evident that the word "nations" refers to people redeemed from "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6) who, through the new birth, constitute spiritual Israel.