Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven. Sermons
I. THE AMBASSADOR WHO BRINGS IT. Much may be learnt concerning any message that is sent by an earthly monarch from the character and rank and insignia which belong to the messenger. If the business which he has to transact be of great importance, and it be desired to impress its significance upon the minds of those to whom he is sent, he himself will be of such dignity, and accompanied with such tokens of authority and power, as will prepare those to whom he comes rightly to receive the message he brings. So here, he who brings God's message to mankind is one of no mean order, and the tokens of his authority are of the most impressive kind. 1. He comes from heaven. The Bible is not a merely human production. It is inspired by God; it is a message from heaven. It contains what no human mind could have known or invented; it speaks with an authority that they who receive the message realize to be from God. Inspiration cannot be argued and so demonstrated to the intellect, but it speaks to the soul, and is felt to be present in the Scriptures, which therefore are declared to be the Word of God. It wakes up a response in the soul, quickening, informing, strengthening, consoling, uplifting, sanctifying it, as no mere human words have ever done or can do, save as they draw their inspiration from this source. 2. It is mighty in its potter. It was "a strong angel" that St. John saw, suggesting to him and to us the strength of that message which he was commissioned to bring. What trophies of its power has not the Bible won? Where is the age, the country, the rank, the character, the intellectual condition, the circumstances of any kind, amid and over which it has not proved strong to subdue and bless and save? 3. Its truths fill the soul with awe. The angel was "clothed with a cloud " - symbol this of the majesty and mystery that surround and invest the foundation teachings of the Word of God. The soul can only bow in reverence and awe before them, and confess its feebleness in their presence. 4. But they are crowned with blessed promise and grace. "The rainbow was upon his head." Though there be so much that we cannot penetrate or comprehend, nevertheless the predominant characteristic is that of "grace," that of which the rainbow was at the first and is ever the beautiful and blessed symbol. Even those awful judgments of God spoken in ver. 7 are there declared to be part of "the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets" (see Revised Version). And when we preach out of the Bible we are said to preach the gospel. This is its main character and intent. 5. They irradiate and illumine all our earthly life. "His face was as it were the sun." "Truly the light is sweet, and pleasant thing it is to behold the sun" - so says Ecclesiastes 11:7. And the confession of this radiant grace, this blessed light which streams forth from the Word of God, is commonplace of all the sacred writers and of all who have rejoiced in that light. 6. And they shall never be driven forth or removed. "His feet as pillars of fire," and ver. 2, "He planted his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth." His invincible power is signified by "the pillars of fire;" and his having set his feet upon the earth and sea tells of "the immovable steadfastness of the heavenly Conqueror against all the resistance of his enemies." He is come to stay, and he cannot be driven forth. When and where has not the attempt to dislodge the Word. been made? But it has never succeeded. All Church history proves this. In many ages and places it has been death to keep a copy of the sacred writings. Wherever they were found, they were ruthlessly destroyed, and often they also with whom they were found. But every copy of the Bible that we possess today proves how partial and ineffective all such endeavours were. Glory be to God that they were so! II. THE DESCRIPTION GIVEN OF IT. "A little book open." 1. A book. The Bible is not the revelation itself, but the record of it. But without the record the revelation would not have availed us. Great scorn has been poured on the idea of "a book revelation," and an immense deal of poor wit has been expended upon the idea that God should have used such mean materials as books are made of as the vehicle of his revelation of himself. But the Bible is not the revelation, only its record; and it is reason for eternal gratitude that his revelation has been so given that it can be thus recorded. In what other way could the knowledge of God have been so well preserved or spread abroad? (Cf. on this ' The Eclipse of Faith,' by H. Rogers.) 2. Its seeming insignificance. It is "a little book." In these days of gold and guns, when wealth and armies are thought to be the great means of accomplishing everything, the spiritual force that lies hidden in "a little book" counts but for little. But what hath not God wrought by it? And we may be grateful that it is little, and not a ponderous library which it would need a lifetime even to know part of, but one small volume which can be read and reread and carried everywhere as we will. No doubt the littleness of the book here spoken of is intended to be in contrast with that vast volume told of in Revelation 5., which was written within and without, so complete, so full, was it. This tells of but "part of his ways;" that seems to have been the declaration of all his will. But it suggests the seeming insignificance, both in form and force, of that which we call the book of God, but whose insignificance is, indeed, only seeming, not real. 3. It is to be an open book. St. John saw it "open" in the hand of the angel. There have been and there are those who would have the Word of God closed, if not entirely, yet to large extent. They affirm it is not a book for the common people, but for the priests of the Church; and for centuries it was kept closed, and is even now looked upon with more or less of dislike. But, blessed be God, it is open, not to the eyes alone, but to the mind. For though it contains the profoundest truths that the intellect of man has ever studied, still it contains also those truths - and they are the most numerous and important - which the humblest and least instructed are able to receive and rejoice in. God hath caused the vision to be written and made "plain," so that the unlearned may learn, and the most simple comprehend. III. THE VOICES FOR AND AGAINST IT. We read that the angel cried with a loud voice, and that the seven thunders uttered their voices. Now: 1. The angelic voice suggests: (1) The startling effect of the Word of God upon mankind. The angel's voice was "as when a lion roareth." So did the Word of God affect men. See when at the Reformation it was first freely given to Europe. How it roused men's minds, awoke them from their lethargy, nation after nation heard the sound and broke away from the superstition and sins in which they had so long lived! And it is so still. "What must I do to be saved?" is the intense, the sometimes agonized cry, of men whom the lion-like, awful voice of the Word has aroused from their sin. The conviction of sin which the Holy Spirit produces through the Word is, often, to men "as when a lion roareth," arousing them indeed. (2) The assured persuasion it gives concerning the mystery of this present life. The solemn oath of the angel (vers. 5-7) did but represent what the Word of God accomplishes. As he gave, so it gives, solemn assurance that what now is - so much of it so mournful, so full of mystery - is not ever to be, but shall have an end. Life is a mystery now, even in these comparatively calm days of ours; but what must it have appeared to the persecuted outraged Church of St. John's day? And were not we assured that what we now see is but part of God's ways, one link in the chain of his purposes, only a portion of his one great, wise, holy. and loving plan, how could we believe in him as either wise, holy, just, or loving? The mind. would rush to atheism, and the man to suicide; for what better could be done? But the Word of God, like the solemn oath of this strong angel, assures us of God that "His purposes are ripening fast, 2. The thunder voice. (Ver. 4.) The brutum fulmen, the full-voiced anger of him who uttered it. The question comes - Whence this voice of the seven thunders? It has, we think, been too hastily assumed that St. John is referring to the sevenfold voice of the thunder mentioned in Psalm 29. And, doubtless, in this book thunders are referred, to as coming forth from the throne of God (cf. Revelation 4:5). But the true interpretation is given, we think, in the strikingly parallel passages in Daniel 8:26 and Daniel 12:4-9, where that which the prophet is commanded to "seal up" is not what God shall do, but what his people's enemies shall do against him and them. And so here, we believe, the thunders tell of the wrathful response, the angry mutterings, of God's enemies against his truth. And thus regarded, they tell of the opposition the Word arouses in the world of the wicked. It has ever been so. In St. John's day; at the era of the Reformation, witness the cursed cruelties which the Roman Catholic Church in those days perpetrated in the Netherlands, in our own land, and wherever also she had power. And still those "dark places of the earth, which are full of the habitations of cruelty," are filled with rage when any real invasion of them is made by the messengers of the Word. Still Christ's Name is as a "sign to be spoken against." And it was fitting that these voices should not be written. The purpose of this book was to console and strengthen the Church, not to distress and alarm. Hence the Divine forces on the side of the Church and against her foes are what this book mainly reveals. It tells us, "The Lord is on our side; we will not fear what man can do unto us." IV. THE DIRECTIONS CONCERNING IT. As it was with the "little book" so must it be with the Word of God: 1. It must be received as from God. If we look upon the Bible as on "any other book," as on ordinary literature, we shall lack that reverential docile spirit which is necessary in order to receive its truths. The book was to be taken from the hand of the angel (ver. 8). 2. It must be taken into the soul This is the meaning of the strange command, "Take it, and eat it up." It is as when Jeremiah said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them;" as when our Lord said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man," etc. (John 6.). We are to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" its truths; make them part of our very self. So must it be with those who would know the power of God's Word. 3. When so taken, it will produce both sorrow and joy. The first taste will be pleasant. "In thy mouth sweet as honey." And it is so. It is not a joy that we have a revelation from God at all; that we are not left in the dark as to our whence and whither; that we are assured God is "our Father which art in heaven;" that our salvation is "without money and without price," for that Christ died for us? Yes; "sweeter also than honey and the honey comb" are these precious truths. But the after taste will cause distress and pain. Witness the Saviour's tears wept over lost souls, and the like tears shed still by those who know "the fellowship of his sufferings." That men should resist and reject such a Saviour; that we should so long have done so, and do not yet wholly receive him; - yes, this after taste hath pain. 4. When eaten, it qualifies for witness bearing for God. (Ver. 11.) This is the real qualification, this deep experimental knowledge of the power of God's Word. All else is as naught compared with this. Only such God ordains to be his prophets. Thus doth this "little book," though it meant not the Bible, tell of the Bible. - S. C. I. WHAT MAY BE MEANT BY THIS CESSATION OF TIME? Time, considered in itself, can never cease to exist. It must flow on and on to endless ages. Everything which happens must, of course, have a certain period of time, longer or shorter, in which to happen. The redeemed in glory will sing the praises of God and the Lamb. Time must elapse while they are singing those praises. If in the glorified body there should be a heart, it must go on, pulsation after pulsation, in never-ending succession. If in the new heavens and the new earth there should be anything analogous to that movement of the heavenly bodies which gives us day and night and the vicissitudes of the seasons, such a movement must necessarily ask time to proceed in — nay, as it proceeds, it must measure time. What, then, is meant by the announcement of a period when there shall be time no longer? Time, as I have said, must always flow on; but it may be annihilated to us, or in great measure annihilated. How this may be is not really an intricate or a subtle question, although it may at first sight appear so. It is generally and truly said that to Almighty God there is no such thing as time. If you understand this assertion, you will then find no difficulty in perceiving how time to us may be no longer. To say that to Almighty God there is no such thing as time, is only another method of expressing the truth (and be it said with the utmost reverence), that God has a perfect memory and a perfect foresight. There are many points of analogy between the mind and the eye. Imagine, then, an eye as free from the laws of the eye as you have been imagining a mind free from the laws of the mind. Imagine an eye not subjected to the laws of perspective, an eye to which things do not, as they recede from it, either diminish in size or fade in colour. It must be clear that to such an eye distance does not exist, just as to a mind endowed with perfect memory and perfect foresight time does not exist. One object may be placed a yard distant from the eye; another object may be placed a thousand miles distant; but if the latter of these objects appear of the same size, shape, and colour, and with all the same circumstantials, as it would if brought within the range of thirty-six inches to that eye distance is annihilated, and has no existence. And if God were to announce to any one that distance would be no more to him, this would be only another form of saying that his eyesight should be free from those limitations which are at present the conditions under which eyesight exists. Thus we have arrived at the last stage of our explanation. You have only to remember that the human mind, in another stage of existence, will be made competent for a far higher state of things than it can ever now attain, that its reach will be increased both as regards the past and the future, in order to comprehend the announcement that "time shall be no longer." Our memory of all that has befallen us will then be perfect. Many events and sensations of our past career are buried away in the sod of the mind, trodden down into the soil, and overlaid by our more recent experiences. Of many very critical events, on our minds there is just a headstone, as it were, with a monumental inscription, giving in the coldest manner their name and date; but freshness, reality, and vitality they have none. Yet, even now, passages of our past history are, ever and anon, recalled to us with a wonderful vividness, by music, by odours, by long forgotten scenes, or by some other association of the senses. Sudden and transient flashings these, of a light which is destined one day to flush the whole mind, and to penetrate into its darkest recesses. The memory has really no more lost its deposits than the graveyard has lost the corpses entrusted to its keeping. Those deposits will one day start from the sod in all the freshness of new life, and stand up upon their feet "an exceeding great army." Nor need we shrink from supposing that in that higher condition of existence the powers of memory and foresight possessed by the mind will be greatly enlarged, whether or not they be made, as regards our future experience, perfect. II. WHY THE ASSEVERATION OF THE TEXT IS MADE UPON OATH. The reasons are obvious. First, its being made on oath argues its importance. We take an oath in matters of moment, not in trifles. Petty interests are felt to be beneath the solemnity and dignity of an appeal to Heaven. Secondly, an oath is an indication that the thing assevered appears till then in more or less uncertainty. It is the province of an oath to give assurance of something which was previously open to question. III. TO EACH ONE AMONG US THE ABOLITION OF TIME WILL BE THE HOUR OF OUR OWN DEATH. "This I say, brethren, the time is short." Yes, that is the main point which the oath may be taken to imply — the infinite importance in God's estimation of the time that remains to you upon earth. (Dean Goulburn.) II. WHEN WILL THE EVENT DENOTED BY THESE EXPRESSIONS ARRIVE? We learn from our text that it will arrive when the mystery of God shall be finished. God's great object in creating this world and its inhabitants was to gratify and glorify Himself. Now, God at once glorifies and gratifies Himself when He displays His perfections in His works. Some of His perfections, as, for instance, His power, wisdom, and goodness, He displayed in the creation of the world; and they, as well as some other perfections of His nature, are still displayed in its providential government. But the principal display of His perfections is made in the work of redemption by Jesus Christ, the great object to which all His works of creation and providence ultimately refer. Agreeably, inspiration informs us, that for Jesus Christ all things were created; and that to Him there is given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him. When the purposes for which this kingdom was given to Christ, and set up in the world, are accomplished, the mystery of God, mentioned in our text, will be finished. Now the purposes for which this kingdom was given to Christ include two things. The first is, the complete salvation of all who are given to Him by the Father. The second is, the complete and final subjugation of His enemies. III. WHAT WILL BE THE ATTENDING CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THIS EVENT? 1. With respect to ourselves, considered as individuals, the end of time, or, which is the same thing to us, the end of our lives will be attended by circumstances, and followed by consequences, most important and interesting.(1) We shall then be separated at once from all temporal and earthly objects.(2) With the end of time our state of probation and our day of grace will end. We shall be removed from our present religious privileges and means of spiritual improvement.(3) When time ends, eternity will begin. The moment in which we leave this temporary and mutable state, we shall enter a state which is eternal, and, of course, unchangeable. 2. The circumstances and consequences which will attend and follow the end of time with respect to the human race.(1) When the end of time shall arrive, the general resurrection will take place.(2) At the end of time, the day of judgment, the great day for which all other days were made, will arrive. 3. It remains only to consider what will then be the fate of the globe which we inhabit. Then the gold, the silver, the jewels, and all the glittering but delusive objects, for which so many thousands have bartered their souls, shall be destroyed. Lessons: 1. In view of this subject, however insignificant, how unworthy of an immortal being, do all merely temporal and earthly pursuits appear I 2. In full view of the end of time let me ask, are you all, my hearers, prepared for it? (E. Payson, D. D.) 1. Time had a beginning. There was a day, a year, that was the first, before which there was not another. But eternity was before, and will be after time; which therefore appears at present like a small island lifting up its head in the midst of the ocean. 2. Time has run from the beginning, and is running on in an uninterrupted course of addition of moments, hours, days, months, and years. 3. Time will come to an end. It has run long, but it will run out at length. The last sand in the glass of this world will pass. The period is set in the Divine decree, the last day and hour, though no man knows them.(1) This present world shall be no more; these heavens and earth shall pass away by the general conflagration (2 Peter 3:10).(2) New years shall be no more. The year will come, the month, the day, hour and minute, after which there shall never be another. Let us improve our years then for eternity, and count our days so as to apply our hearts to wisdom.(3) The different seasons will be no more. There will be no more summer and winter, seed-time and harvest. There will be an eternal spring in heaven; but an eternal winter, as it were, in hell, where is gnashing of teeth.(4) The business of this life shall be no more. There shall be no more tilling of the ground, tending of flocks, merchandising, nor trades. How unhappy must they be who have no pleasure nor satisfaction in anything else, since these are not to last!(5) The means of sustaining this life shall be no more. There shall be no more eating, drinking, nor sleeping.(6) Relations shall be no more. Time going dissolves them all, as fellow-travellers part when come to their journey's end. There shall be no more magistrates and subjects, ministers and people, husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants (Job 3:19). Only the relation betwixt Christ and His people as head and members, which is not of this world, shall remain; and so the relation to God as His children (Luke 20:35, 36); who are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.(7) Space for repentance shall be no more.(8) Tribulation and adversity of the godly shall be no more.(9) The prosperity and comfort of the wicked (Luke 16:25) shall be no more. II. THE WEIGHT OF THIS TRUTH, AND ITS CONCERN TO MANKIND. 1. That it is of weight and concern to them appears in its being sworn to them; which implies —(1) That men are very heedless about it, and slow to believe it, and be impressed with it.(2) A legal intimation made to them of its ending.(3) That the period of time is unalterably fixed, the bounds of it set, beyond which it cannot go; for it is set by an oath. 2. The weight of the thing lies in these three.(1) That then that which concerns mankind's happiness or misery is completed; the state of probation is over, and the state of recompense takes place in perfection, both as to their bodies and souls.(2) That then eternity succeeds the state of all for ever unalterable, no end to be expected more.(3) That now or never must be done what is done for eternity.Use. Then be exhorted suitably to improve this intimation of time's ending. 1. Look beyond time, this world, and the state of things in it; carry your views into the other world, to eternity (2 Corinthians 4:18). 2. Lift your hearts from off the things of time, and set them on those that are eternal (Colossians 3:2). 3. Use this world passingly, as pilgrims and strangers in it (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). 4. Let not the frowns of this world, the troubles and trials of the present life, make deep impression on us: they will not last. 5. Be not lifted up with the world's smiles, nor value yourselves on worldly prosperity; for time will put an end to this also. 6. Improve time while it lasts, for the ends it is given you for.(1) Laying a good foundation for eternity, getting out of your natural state into the state of grace, believing on Christ, and repenting of sin.(2) Living to the honour of God, endeavouring to act in your sphere for propagating the name and kingdom of Christ.(3) Serving your generation in usefulness to mankind, seeking to forward the spiritual and temporal good of others; as David did (Acts 13:86). (T. Boston.) 1. We shall consider what that mystery of God is. A mystery is a secret or hidden thing. 2. I will show in what respects it is a mystery, the mystery of God; or that the kingdom of Christ, and His management, is a mystery, the mystery of God. II. We shall consider THE MYSTERY OF GOD AS BEGUN AND CARRIED ON IN TIME. 1. We shall consider the first opening of the mystery.(1) In the promulgation of the promise of the gospel (Genesis 3:15).(2) In the offering of the first sacrifices, with the skins whereof our naked first parents were clothed (Genesis 3:21). 2. We shall consider the gradual opening of the mystery. Of this we have an account in Hebrews 1:1. 3. We shall consider the progress of the mystery.(1) It has never been interrupted since it began in paradise; the salvation of the Church has all along been carried on, and matters managed for that end.(2) It has made such progress, that by this time it is drawing towards the period of finishing it.(3) It is going on in our day, in the same powerful hand that has managed it all along.But for a more full view of the mystery, as executed in time, we shall consider the eight following particulars of this mysterious kingdom, in every part of which there is a mystery. 1. The head of it, Jesus Christ, is a mystery. And He is a mystery, a mysterious Head:(1) In the constitution of His person, being God and man in one person.(2) In His offices.(3) In all circumstances about Him. 2. The subjects of it, believers, are a mystery too. They are in the world indeed, but unknown to the world (1 John 3:1). 3. The erection and conservation of it is a mystery (Luke 17:20).(1) The beginnings of it were very small; how vastly soever it has spread.(2) The means of erecting and setting it up were very unlikely and unusual, viz., the despised preaching of the gospel (Psalm 110:2).(3) The opposition to it from the beginning has been very great; yet it has made its way in face of all opposition.(4) The means of keeping it up, even such as it was set up by. Not the power of the sword, but the preaching and teaching of the word of the gospel, and setting that home on men's consciences; prayers, and tears, patient suffering even unto death (Revelation 12:11). 4. The seat of it is a mystery too. 5. The extent of it is a mystery, whether it is considered —(1) In respect of the kind of jurisdiction He has in it. (a) (b) (c) 6. The privileges of it are a mystery. (1) (2) (3) (4) 7. The life and practice of it is a mystery. 8. The manner of the conduct and management of it is a mystery. It is the manner of this kingdom —(1) To prefer the most unlikely, baulking them that stand fairest for the preference in all human appearance (Matthew 20:16).(2) To let things go to an extremity, to the utmost point of hopelessness, before a hand be put to help them, and set them right again (Deuteronomy 32:36).(3) To give the sharpest treatment to the greatest favourites. This is not the manner of men, but it is the manner of God (Psalm 73:5, 14).(4) To meet men with astonishing strokes going in the way that God bade them, while they have a fair sunshine that are going in the way of their own hearts (Ecclesiastes 8:14).(5) To lay by accepted petitions, and let them long lie by, time after time, while yet unacceptable requests are quickly granted.(6) To answer accepted prayers quickly with some one terrible thing or other, which yet are to be graciously and bountifully answered in due time (Psalm 65:5). III. We are to consider THE MYSTERY OF GOD AS FINISHED WITH TIME. 1. Let us consider when this mystery of God shall be finished. 2. Wherein does the finishing of this mystery lie? It lies in these three things following.(1) The accomplishment of the remaining prophecies.(2) The gathering in of all the elect.(3) The completing of the salvation of the Church of the elect. This is the delivering up of the kingdom to the Father mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:24. 3. It remains to show the import and consequence of this finishing the mystery of God. It is of greatest importance to the honour of God, and to the children of men. For then —(1) The eternal purpose of God concerning mankind is fulfilled; the contrivance laid from eternity in the depth of wisdom about them, is executed.(2) The covenant between the Father and Christ, the second Adam, is then fulfilled on both hands.(3) Then the whole frame of the ordinances, now or since Adam's fall, in use in the world for bringing in of sinners, and edifying of saints, is laid by.(4) Then the matter of the Divine conduct towards mankind is altered so that it is quite new (Revelation 21:5).(5) Then Christ's conquest is complete, His enemies made His footstool, which He is this day in expectation of (Hebrews 10:12, 13). 4. Then the mystery is opened, and appears in a full light; though before veiled, the veil is then taken off. 5. There will be no more mystery of God; then it is finished. IV. We shall consider THE RELATION BETWIXT THE MYSTERY OF GOD AND TIME. 1. Time is the space appointed for the mystery of God its being executed. 2. The subsistence or continuation of time depends on the mystery. Had there been no mystery of God to have been carried on, time once polluted with sin, had ended soon after it began.Hence we may learn: 1. Whence it comes to pass that there is so much stumbling of wicked men at the Divine conduct by Christ in the world. The matter is: it is a mystery, and their natural blindness hinders them to see it, so that they know it not (1 Corinthians 2:14). 2. How the godly come to have other thoughts of it; and true Christians admire the beauty and glory of it, which carnal men despise. It is the mystery of God, which He reveals to His friends and rearers of His name (Psalm 25:14). 3. No reason to despise religion because the world generally do so. 4. Time is not continued as a sleep without a design. Oh, that men would consider that it is lengthened out on a particular design; which, being compassed, it shall end for good and all! 5. It is not this world's business, but Heaven's business, that is the great design of the continuing of time. 6. The mystery of God must be a matter of singular excellency, and of the last importance, that for it time is continued. 7. The mystery of God has, in the execution of it, been of long continuance; but it is drawing to a close. 8. When there is no more time requisite for the mystery of God, there will be no more time for other things neither; time will end with it; for it is for the sake of it that it is continued. (T. Boston.) 4113 angels, agents of judgment The First vision "On Earth" |
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