As some of you know, I am deep in the study of Bullinger's commentary on Revelation. As a matter of fact, I am seeking some partners to join me. Trust me, this is an immense work, not so much as in size as content. And, trust me again, no matter who you are, he will trample on at least one of your deeply held beliefs. If anyone is interested, my email is: randerson3@cox.net. Use "Bullinger" in the subject line. The book itself can be viewed at: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bullinger/apocalypse.i.xv.iii.html

It's free! It can be downloaded in PDF and Kindle formats. It can be viewed online. I recommend registering so that your notes and highlights will be preserved.

Bullinger was an authentic genius. And, at least in terms of his Revelation commentary, he provoked considerable controversy within the religious "establishment" which continues to this day. He seems to have been to the religious "establishment" as Immanuel Velikovsky was to the academic "establishment". Like Velikovski, one can find snippets of their work today, arrogated by others without so much as a footnote to a footnote as citation.

For those wishing to read a rebuttal, see:

Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth ULTRA-DISPENSATIONALISM EXAMINED IN THE LIGHT OF HOLY SCRIPTURE by H.A. IRONSIDE, Litt.D.

Note that Ironsides concerns himself less with Bullinger than with Bullinger's theological descendants, which he classifies as Bullingerites, who, apparently, have done great damage and mis-interpreted wonderfully. I concur completely with much of Ironsides' rebuttal.

Lastly, Bullinger divides the Jews into classes. The first is the unbelieving Jew  The second is the messianic Jew, one who believes on Christ as Messiah but NOT Savior. The third is the believing Jew who believes on Christ as both Lord and Savior, thereby being a new creation and part of the body or church of Christ. 

GAL 3

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I've excerpted some nuggets from the Bullinger commentary. They are guaranteed to be of equal offense to all. My comments will be preceded by: COMMENT. The centered section headings are my own. And, do keep this principle in mind:

"The application is for all the servants of God (i. 1) now, and in all time; but the interpretation is specially for the assemblies who will be on the earth during the fulfilment of "the prophecy of this book."

And do remember that iron sharpens iron.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction

Our great fundamental proposition - which we may as well state at once - is, that

The Church is not the subject of the Apocalypse.

However startling this may sound and may seem to some of our readers, we implore you not to dismiss it, but to test the reasons we shall give by the Word of God itself, and to weigh them in "the balances of the sanctuary." Try to forget all that you have "received by tradition," and ask from whom you learned this or that. Be prepared and ready to unlearn anything that you may have received from men, and learn afresh from the Word of God itself.

Many readers of the Bible treat it as though it were like a "puzzle-picture," where we have to "find a face," or "a man," or some other object. No matter what part of the Bible may be read, the one object seems to be to "find the Church." For, the "Word of truth" not being rightly divided, or indeed divided at all, the whole Bible is supposed to be about every one, in every part, and in every age; and the Church is supposed to be its on pervading subject.

This arises from our own natural selfishness. "We" belong to the Church, and therefore all "we" read "we" take to ourselves, not hesitating to rob others of what belongs to them. Here is a case in point. Open your Bibles at Isa. xxix. and xxx., and at the headings of the pages, at the same opening we read, "Judgment upon Jerusalem," and "God's mercies to His Church"! This is a "dividing" of the word (by man) indeed! but whether it is "rightly dividing" is another matter. The book is declared to be "The vision of Isaiah...which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." 

COMMENT: This is not true in my Bibles. The chapter and page headings say nothing of the church. This may have been true of the texts in Bullinger's day, however.

And yet in spite of this, the blessings spoken of Judah and Jerusalem are taken away and given to the Church, while the curses and judgments are kindly left for "Judah and Jerusalem!"

On this system of interpretation the Bible is useless for the purposes of Divine revelation. It is made a derision to its enemies, a ground for the attacks of infidels, while it becomes a stumbling-block to its friends. And yet it is on this same principle that the Apocalypse is usually treated. Everywhere the Church is thrust in : John (in ch. iv. 1) represents the Church; the living creatures, or Cherubim (ch. iv.) are the Church; the four and twenty elders (ch. iv., v.) are the Church; the 144,000 (ch. vii.) are the Church;¹ the great multitude (ch. vii.) is the Church; the "woman clothed with the sun" (ch. xii.) is the Church; the man-child (ch. xii.) is the Church; the bride (ch. xix.) is the Church; the "New Jerusalem" (ch. xxi.) is the Church; the "seven churches" are the Church; and so they go on, until the humble reader of the book is bewildered and disheartened. No wonder the book is neglected. The wonder would be if it were not.

Bible Structure

The whole Bible is divided into five great divisions, each determined by its subject-matter.

1. The Old Testament has for its subject the King and his coming Kingdom, in promise and prophecy.

2. The Four Gospels the Kingdom offered and rejected. The King crucified by Israel in the Land.

3. The Acts and earlier Pauline Epistles; the King and Kingdom re-offered (iii. 19-21); and rejected, by the Dispersion in Rome (Acts xxviii. 25, 26).

4. The Later Pauline Epistles. The Kingdom in abeyance. The King made Head over all things to the Church.

5. The Apocalypse. The Kingdom set up with Divine judgment, in Power-Glory. The King enthroned.

Then, during the fourth of these, we have the Epistles relating to the Mystery - the Church of God - during this present interval, while the King is in heaven and His Kingdom is in abeyance; and, while the preaching of "the gospel of the kingdom" is suspended, and "the gospel of the grace of God" is proclaimed.

The Elect

The golden bowls were vessels belonging to the altar (Zech. xiv. 20), and the Septuagint uses the word for the vessels of the Temple (1 Kings vii. 45, 50; 2 Chron. iv. 22; Ex. xxv. 23-29; xxvii. 3; xxxvii. 10-16). The "prayers of the saints" are the prayers referred to by our Lord in the parable of the Judge, where He applies the parable Himself and asks "and shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night with Him though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith (Gr. the faith) on the earth?" (Luke xviii. 7, 8). The faith here spoken of is that referred to in Rev. ii. 19; xiii. 10; xiv. 12. These elect are the saints spoken of and referred to in Matt. xxiv. 31, and Dan. vii. 18, 22, 27. They are the "Saints of the Most High"; the Most High being a Divine title, always used in connection with the earth; and not with the church. The Elders perform priestly service, because it is on behalf of others. This, the Church cannot do. If the "Elders" are the Church, then the "Saints" cannot be, for the Church cannot offer for itself; nor can one part of it offer for another part! No! The Church is "all one in Christ Jesus," and cannot be separated or divided.

...

But fromMatt. xxiv. 31 we learn that after the Tribulation, Angels are commissioned to gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." The two passages stand in the closest connection, and show that the "elect" in Matt. xxiv. 31 belong to Israel, and not to the church. They are upon the earth during the Tribulation and this seal or sealing, whatever it is, protects and preserves them unscathed. 

The Romans marked their soldiers in the hand; and their slaves in the forehead. Herodotus (ii. 113) speaks of the worshippers of a certain god as having his name branded upon them. In like manner the worshippers of the Beast are branded (xiii. 16-18; xiv. 9, 11; xvi. 2; xix. 20; xx. 4); and these Divinely sealed ones are marked as the worshippers of the true God.

The day of the Lord

There is every reason to believe that "the day of the Lord" will be a prolonged period. It must not be confined to "seven years," as is so often done. The time between the coming forth of the Lord into the air to meet His Church, and His coming unto the Earth with His Church, in power and great glory, may correspond to the thirty-three years between His coming forth at Bethlehem (Micah v. 2) and His coming unto Jerusalem (Zech. ix. 9). All the events between those two we speak of as constituting His "first coming." In like manner, all the events described in this Book, which take place between His coming "for" and His coming "with" His Church, we may speak of as "His second coming" or "the day of the Lord." [See THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST'S ADVENT]

These events may occupy a similar period of thirty-three years for aught we know; and if to these we add the seven yeas of the last week of Daniel we have a period of forty years.

We do know that in Matt. xxiv. 4-6, in answer to the first question of the disciples, "When shall these things be," i.e., when the temple should be destroyed, the Lord at once adds, "not yet is the end (telos)."

He then goes on to answer the second question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the Sunteleia of the age?" (verse 3). He describes four of those seals (verse 7), and adds "all these are a beginning of sorrows."

This fixes these earlier seals as the "beginning" of the Sunteleia of "the day of the Lord" — this "beginning" may be spread over some years before the Great Tribulation, proper, comes on.

Thus these first six seals are again separated off from the seventh.

COMMENT: This is an incredibly important observation. I personally am unaware of any Biblical reason for the rapture being IMMEDIATELY followed by the 70th. week. Bill Salus, in his Isralestine, emphasizes the need for TIME for Israel to digest its conquests in the event of a Psalm 83 war. This would appear to fit the bill. It also pushes out the date of the second coming closer to Newton's 2060 estimate.

Technology -- in 1890!!!

The older commentators might have felt a difficulty in understanding how the whole earth could rejoice at an event happening at Jerusalem. But in these days of electric inventions, telephones, and wireless telegraphy, we all know how the next day the whole world sympathises and rejoices together.²⁴⁴

COMMENT: How familiar does this sound? 

Israel in the land

God has not yet done with His people Israel. They are already, though in partial blindness (Rom. xi. 25), feeling their way back to their land, and to a restoration of their national Polity. Since the year 1896, the Zionist movement has been at work to this end. We regard this as leading directly up to this longer period, theSunteleia (ending with the seven years of Daniel's last week, the Telos), and after the church has been caught up, the movement will rapidly develop and issue in the re-settlement of the Jews in their Land and City in partial independence, but in unbelief. It may be at first under the suzerainty of Turkey, or the protection of the Great Powers; until he arises who will make a covenant with them, and bring on such events as will be the crisis or end of "the Great Tribulation."

COMMENT: I would modify "protection" to "dominance" or 'influence". The Zionist movement was in its infancy in 1890. Nevertheless, Bullinger correctly forecast the establishment of Israel.  Note that he was wrong about the rapture as already having occurred, perhaps missing the God-mandated necessity for Christian nations to put Israel over the top (Truman's official recognition of Israel as a nation). We're all in distinguished company :-)

COMMENT: Are you offended yet? Wait one, after reading the following, you will be.

The BRIDE

g. (see above), xxi. 9-21. Description. The Holy City.

xxi. 9. And there came ⁴²⁶ one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the last seven plagues, and talked with me, saying, 

"Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife."]

Here we are told exactly what was going to be shown to John. It was one of the Seven angels who had already shown John "great Babylon."

In order to see the harlot city (xvii. 1), John is taken into the wilderness (xvii. 3). To see the Holy City he is carried to a great mountain. (xxi. 10).

It was the same with Ezekiel in chap. xl. 2.

We are not left to our own imagination as to what this Holy City is. We are distinctly told that it is i.e., represents or contains "the Bride."

In chap. xix. we had the wife, (...) (gune). Here we have the Bride, (...) (numphe). The one was before the Millennium; the other, the latter, is after it.

It does not say that the latter was then and there formed, but only that, at that point of the Vision, John saw it "coming down from heaven," where it had been; but, for how long we are not told.

If the wife (chap. xix) was Israel; then this Bride is not Israel, but "of Israel."

We must remember the three distinct "callings" revealed in Scripture.

(1). We have the earthly calling of Israel, called out from all nations, for blessing in the Land. Israel was the "wife," and is so spoken of all through the Old Testament; and the marriage will be consummated when Rev. xix. 8 shall be fulfilled.

(2). We have "the heavenly calling," distinctly spoken of as such in Heb. iii. 1, of which a certain class of believing Israelites were "partakers." Among these we may put all those whom we speak of as "the Old Testament Saints."

In spite of the earthly promises to Israel, and in the midst of all those who cherished those earthly promises, there was an elect "heavenly calling" of those whose hopes were not earthly, but heavenly. They looked for no earthly portion, but they looked forward with a heavenly hope to a heavenly blessing. As it is written:

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims (Gen. xxiii. 4. 1 Pet. ii. 11) on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a COUNTRY... a better country , that is, an HEAVENLY, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a CITY" (Heb. xi. 13-16). And of Abraham it is said (verse 10): "He looked for THE CITY which hath FOUNDATIONS, whose builder and maker is God."

When the angel, therefore, says to John (Rev. xxi. 9), "Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife... and he showed me that great CITY, the holy Jerusalem descending out of HEAVEN from God," what can we conclude but that here, we have that "better country," and "the City" for which the Old Testament saints belonging to the "heavenly calling" looked?

It will also be noted that the names "on the GATES" of the city are "the names of the twelve TRIBES of the children of Israel" (Rev. xxi. 12), while the names "in the FOUNDATIONS" are "the names of the TWELVE APOSTLES of the Lamb" (verse 14).

If this be not "the CITY" for which they and the Elect Remnant looked, then we ask, for what "City" did they look? Certainly not for an earthly city; but for this, of which we now see them, its blessed and happy inhabitants. No other city has these foundations; no other city has apostles and prophets to prophesy concerning God as its builder. God builds one City, His prophets and apostles are all concerned for the building of the City of the eternal ages. Their message concerning this city came from its builder and maker. The builder of it puts their names in the foundations of its walls; and the adornment of its foundations are the names of the twelve apostles. No other city could have such immortal, priceless foundations. Blessed foundations. This was the city; for this alone has foundations, all others will have vanished in smoke; this abides. This, then, is what Abraham, and his seed, by faith, looked for. This is the Holy City.

(3). Then, we have the other "calling," of which we read in Eph. i. 18, iv. 1. It is a "holy calling" (2 Tim. i. 9). It is a Divine calling.

If we identify the calling of the Church of God with the other callings we cannot but have confusion.

Here, in Rev. xxi., we have the New Heaven and the New Earth; we have the Twelve Tribes of Israel; and Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. We ask, What has all this to do with the Church— Body of Christ? Has it not to do only and solely with the Holy City and with the Bride of the Lamb? The promise of Christ to the Twelve Apostles in Matt. xix. 28 (though that doubtless has its special fulfilment in the Millennium) has never been abrogated: but, we ask, what are we to do with it, if the Apostles form part of the Body of Christ? The Church is part of Christ, the Bridegroom; but the Apostles, here, form part of the Bride.⁴²⁷

In harmony also with this is the teaching of

 

EPHESIANS V. 25-33.

Christians, in their selfishness, intrude themselves into the place of others as the Bride, and thus lose the blessed enjoyment of their own place which is theirs as part of the Bridegroom!

The Bride and the Bridegroom, though in a sense one, are yet distinct. And it is clear from all the scriptures relating to the Mystery, that the members of Christ's Body are part of the Bridegroom Himself. Whereas the elect Old Testament saints will form the Bride. See Isaiah xii. 6: "Cry out and shout, thou Inhabitress (marg.) of Zion: For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." In Rev. xxii. 3, we read "The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it." Of the glory of this Holy City other scriptures speak. See Is. lx. 3, 14, 19, 20. Rev. xxi. 23, 24, 27. Is. liv. 11, 12.

True, the Apostle might address the saints concerning his desire to present them "as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. xi. 2).But this no more declares that the Church is the Bride of Christ than that the Apostle himself was their father (1 Cor. iv. 15); or that he was their mother (Gal. iv. 19). In the one case he spoke of the painful anxiety of a mother; in another of the loving care of a father; while, in 2 Cor. xi. 2, he spoke of the jealousy of the friend of a bridegroom. The "Mystery" was a totally different thing.

So, in Eph. vi. 28, 29, the argument is that husbands "ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord, the Church, for we are members of His Body," i.e., AS Christ loves HIS OWN BODY (Himself and the Church); so ought husbands to love their wives. Thus "the great secret" is employed as an argument as to the reciprocal duties of husbands and wives. In neither case is it said that the Church IS the wife, or that Christ IS the husband. But that AS Christ loves His Body (Himself and the Church), SO husbands ought to love their own bodies (i.e., themselves and their wives).

The one thing that is clear, is that the Church is the Body of Christ; and that the members of that Body being "in Christ," are PART OF THE BRIDEGROOM. They cannot possibly, therefore, be the Bride herself as separate and distinct from theBridegroom.

Another thing that is certain is that the mystery of the Church was not revealed in the Old Testament, but was "hid in God" (Eph. iii. 9) and "kept secret" (Rom. xvi. 25); "hid from ages and from generations" (Col. i. 26).

It is one thing to see an illustration of the Church in the Old Testament; but it is quite another thing to say that this is thererevealed, which God distinctly declares was not revealed!

 

GEN. xxiv.

has been, for example, widely taken as typical of Christ and the Church. Isaac is taken as the bridegroom, and Rebekah as the Church or the bride. True, the chapter is illustrative, but not of the Church. The bridegroom and the bride were both "ready" before either was called to the marriage. The bride was found in the house of Abraham's brother. Very special injunctions were given that she was not to be of "the Canaanites." "But," said Abraham to Eliezer, "thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindredand take a wife unto my son Isaac... thou shalt take a wife for my son from thence." Great emphasis is placed on this important condition in verses 3, 4, 7, 37, 38. Abraham and Nahor were brothers, and by Isaac's marriage with Rebekah, and Jacob's marriage with her brother Laban's daughters (Leah and Rachel), the whole house of Nahor was absorbed into the family of Abraham! In direct contrast with this, it is again and again affirmed that the Church is composed of both Jews and Gentiles. These together make up, with Christ the Head, "one new man" (Eph. ii. 15). But Gentiles were expressly shut when this typical wife was chosen; and Isaac, on receiving his bride, took her at once "into his mother Sarah's tent," thus forming the ground of the type as expounded in Gal. iv. 21-31.

Rebekah therefore represents, not the Mystery of Christ and the Church, but that great cloud of witnesses (the Old Testament saints), who, in the old dispensation, sacrificed, as she did, all worldly advantages for the Lord's sake. It is for these He is preparing that "city which hath foundations," and of which He Himself is the Divine Architect. And truly, it is said of these, "if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out (as Rebekah came), they might have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city" (Heb. xi. 15, 16).

It seems to us, therefore, quite clear that neither the "wife" in chap. xix. nor the Bride in chap. xxi. is the Church of God. The former is clearly referred to in the Parable of the "Ten Virgins" (Matt. xxv.), and in the prophecy of Psalm xlv. All these Scriptures are clear if we will only leave out the Church; but, all is confusion the moment we introduce it.

But, to return to this "Holy City," we repeat that all in this chapter (as in this whole Book) is intensely real.

It is a real city. Yet Barnes says, "no man can suppose that this is literally true." No! We do not "suppose" it, because webelieve it to be true; and we find it easier to believe what God says, than to understand man's interpretation of it. It is strange that while materializing all really spiritual truths, interpreters should protest against the materialisation of those who would understand this of a literal city.

All other cities are shadows, if you like: for they all pass away; consequently, if this city be not real, then there never could have been the idea in God, of a city. We should have a word for which there would be no thought: a shadow without a substance!

Yes, this city is real, and its eternal duration is real also: for "there shall be no more curse" (xxii. 3).

This shows that it cannot refer to Millennial times, for the curse is seen in all its sin and wrath immediately on its close.

"Come and I will show thee the Bride," the angel says.

....

All this shows that Israel is in question here, and not the Church of God. The Church is part of the Bridegroom, and will then be "with Christ." This city is separate from Christ, and occupies a distinct and separate position as the Bride.

COMMENT: I personally have never been comfortable with the brideship of the church (and, ladies, all those lovely pictures of the bride in her wedding dress don't help). But, for time immemorial, I have heard that the church is the bride of Christ, and I've gone along to get along. 

I make no pretensions to scholarship; I am strictly a CONTEXTUAL reader, relying on Strong's only rarely. Quite frankly, I don't understand this constant search for alternate word definitions. I trust the plain text of my KJV explicitly, and on the rare times I resort to Strongs, I usually find my reading was correct to begin with. But, that's me.

I had long since isolated the passages Bullinger uses to identify the bride, recognized that the timing was wrong, etc and inspired many a headache wondering how the church could be the body of Christ and the bride simultaneously long before I stumbled upon his Revelation commentary. Bullinger, scholar that he was, gives flesh to my discomfit.

Bullinger's outline method

The following is a sample of Bullinger's outline method. It is almost, but not totally, Greek to me. He ASSUMES the reader is perfectly familiar with his method. I have never seen it before, nor can I find any explanation for it with GOOGLE.

Now I'm just a natural born, easily confused fool from RI, and this is but one of the reasons I seek partners in dissecting Bullinger's commentary. Is there anyone out there who understands this?

we find that the whole body of the book is divided for us into seven pairs of connected events.

Perhaps the simplest form in which to first exhibit this will be the following:—

        A | i. Introduction.
            B | ii, iii. The People on Earth.
                X | iv. 1 - xx. 15. Visions.
             B | xxi. 1 - xxii. 5. The People on the New Earth.
         A | xxii. 6-21. Conclusion

...

Now, the Holy Spirit has divided the central number, which we have marked "X," and which occupies the larger part of the book, into seven parts. Each of these seven parts consists of two scenes: The former of which takes place "in Heaven," and the latter "on Earth."

Before we proceed further it may be well to set out these Divine divisions more fully.

    A | i.  Introduction
         B | ii, iii.  The people on the earth
             X | i.  {H ¹ | iv., v.  In Heaven.  (The Throne, the Book, and the Lamb.)
                     E | vi. 1-vii. 8.  On Earth.  (The Six Seals and 144,000.)
                | ii. {H ² |   vii. 9-viii. 6.  In Heaven.  (The Great Multitude and the Seventh Seal.)
                     E | viii. 7-xi. 14.  On Earth.  (The Six Trumpets.)
                | iii. {H ³ | xi. 15-19-.  In Heaven.  (The Seventh Trumpet.)
                     E | xi. -19.  On Earth.  (The Earthquake, etc.)
                | iv.  {H ⁴ | xii. 1-12.  In Heaven.  (Woman, Child and Dragon.)
                     E | xii. 13-xiii. 18.  On Earth.  (The Dragon and Two Beasts.)
                | v.   {H ⁵ | xiv. 1-5.  In Heaven.  (The Lamb and 144,000.)
                     E | xiv. 6-20.  On Earth.  (The Six Angels.)
                | vi.  {H ⁶ | xv. 1-8.  In Heaven.  (The Seven Vial Angels.)
                     E | xvi. 1-xviii. 24.  On Earth.  (The Seven Vials.)
                | vii. {H ⁷ | xix. 1-16.   In Heaven.  (The Marriage of the Lamb, etc.)
                     E | xix. 17-xx. 15.  On Earth.  (The Final Five Judgments.)
         B | xxi. 1-xxii. 5.  The People on the New Earth.
    A | xxii. 6-21.  Conclusion.

 

The more intently we look on this, and the more carefully we study it, the more shall we be struck by its beauty and simplicity. How clear, compared with man's complicated division made according to his own fancy! So clear that the humblest child of God cannot fail to grasp it. It requires no explanation; but it will itself explain all things to us if we have ears to hear.

...

It appears, therefore, from this that these seven pairs are arranged as anEpanodos: that is to say, the first corresponds with the last (the seventh); the second with the sixth; the third with the fifth; while the fourth stands out in the centre; emphasising, by its central position, its important teaching.

They may be set out formally and briefly thus:

    i | Longer and more full of heavenly voices and utterances. (Six in all).
            ii | The Trumpets.
                    iii | Shorter and less detail.
                            iv | Central in subject and position.
                    v | Shorter and less detail.
            vi | The Vials.
    vii | Longer and more full of heavenly voices and utterances. (Four in all).

 

THE HEAVENLY VOICES

are also portioned out according to the above plan:

    i | All heaven (6). The four Zoa, or Living ones, and twenty-four Elders; only here and in No. vii.
            ii | Those out of the great tribulation (2).
                    iii | Great voices (2).
                            iv | A loud voice (1).
                    v | Great voices (1).
            vi | Those out of the great tribulation (1).
    vii | All heaven (4). The four Zoa, or Living Ones, and twenty-four Elders; only here and in No. i.

 

From all this it is clear that we have to do with Divine handiwork when we come to the study of this book.

...

A TABLE OF THE SEVENTEEN HEAVENLY UTTERANCES.
H ¹. Chaps. iv. and v.

The four Zoa, or Living ones. iv. 8. "Holy, Holy, Holy," &c. (Three-fold).

The twenty-four Elders. iv. 11. "Thou are worthy ... to receive," &c. (Three-fold).

The four Zoa, or Living ones, and the twenty-four Elders. v. 9,10. (A new song). "Thou are worthy to take the book," &c.

Many angels and the four Living ones, and the Elders and thousands of angels. v. 12. "Worthy is the Lamb," &c. (Seven-fold).

Every creature. v. 13. "Blessing and honour and glory," &c. (Four-fold).

The four Zoa, or Living ones. v. -14-. "Amen."

H ². vii. 9 - viii. 6

The great multitude out of the great tribulation. vii. 10. "Salvation to our God," &c.

All the angels round about the throne. vii. 12. "Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom," &c. (Seven-fold).

H ³. xi. 15-19-.

Great voices. xi. -15. "The Kingdom of the world is become," &c.

The twenty-four Elders. xi. 17. "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty."

H ⁴. xii. 1-12

A loud voice. xii. 10-12. "Now is come salvation, and strength," &c.

H ⁵. xiv. 1-5

A voice from heaven. xiv. 3. A new song (no words).

H ⁶. xv. 1-8

They that had gotten the victory over the beast, &c. xv. -3. "Great and marvellous are they works, Lord God Almighty," &c.

H ⁷. xix. 1-16

A great voice of much people in heaven. xix. -1-3. "Alleluia: salvation and glory," &c. (Four-fold)

The twenty-four Elders and the four Zoa, or Living ones. xix. -4-. "Amen, Alleluia."

A voice out of the throne. xix. 5. "Praise our God, all ye his people," &c.

The voice of a great multitude, &c. xix. -6, 7. "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," &c.

...

The following is the structure of chapter i., which forms the "Introduction" to the whole book. To appreciate it more, we ought carefully to compare it with the structure of the "Conclusion," which will be given in its place.

    A |   E¹ | a¹ | i. 1. The angel testifying.
                        b¹| 2. The things testified.
                                F¹ | c¹ | 3-. Benediction. ("Blessed.")
                                            d¹ | -3. Advent. ("The time is at hand.")
            E² | a² | 4-. John testifying.
                        b² | -4,5-. The things testified.
                                F² | c² | -5,6. Ascription. ("Unto Him.")
                                            d² | 7,8. Advent ("Behold He cometh.")
            E³ | a³ | 9-. John testifying.
                        b³ | -9-11. The things testified.
                                F³ |     d³ | 12-16. Advent. (Visions of the Coming One.)
                                        c³ | 17-. Salutation. ("Fear not.")
            E⁴ | a⁴ | -17-18. Jesus testifying (of Himself).
                        b⁴ | 19. The things testified.
                                F⁴ |     d⁴ | 20-. Advent. (Vision 12-16, d3) referred to.)
                                        c⁴ | -20. Interpretation. ("The 7 stars are," &c.)

This Structure shows us that the emphasis is specially placed on two things:--

The Advent (F), and
Testimony concerning the Advent (E).

In each of the latter of the two pairs (F¹, F², F³, and F⁴) the Advent is alternated with four other subjects:--

Benediction,
Ascription,
Salutation, and 
Interpretation.

But these are introverted. For, whereas, in the first two pairs the Adventfollows the Benediction and the Ascription respectively, it precedes theSalutation and the Interpretation in the last two pairs.

Moreover, the Advent is testified in two ways. In the first two pairs (d¹ and d²) it is testified in words; but in the last two pairs (d³ and d⁴) it is testified invision. Our attention is called to this difference by the Introversions in F³ and F⁴.

And now, to show how perfectly, not only the introduction, as a whole, is constructed, but also, how perfect are each of its parts (or members), we must expand the first member, E1, as an example, in full.

This makes it perfectly clear that in these first two verses we have the essence of the whole book. This first member, consisting of these two verses, is divided into two parts, which have a perfect correspondence with each other. This correspondence is hidden by the faulty human verse-division. In each division we have the same four subjects, viz., giving of the Book; Its medium, purpose, and subject; first, in Intention; and then, in Execution.

E¹, i. 1, 2. The Angel Testifying and the Things Testified.

Intention |
E¹ | e | 1-. The Revelation Given]    "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
            f | -1-. The Medium]    "unto him,
                g | -1-. The Purpose]    "to show unto his servants
                    h | -1-. The Subject]   "things which must shortly come to pass;
Execution |
E¹ | e | -1-. The Revelation Given]    "And he sent and signified it
            f | -1-. The Medium]   "by his angel
                g | -1,2-. The Purpose]   "unto his servant John: who bare record
                    h | -2. The Subject]   "of the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all
things that he saw."

 

We need not proceed further with the expansions of all these members.

Our readers will have noticed that, in E¹, we have combined the full text with the outline or skeleton of the structure. But this text is from the Authorized Version. In our Exposition we propose to give our own Translation, with such explanatory notes as may serve to make it clear.

 

...

COMMENT: And so forth and so on. He expands, he contracts, he produces arcane codes to delineate structure, and he thoroughly confuses me. Where do these structural codes come from? What do they mean? Thank God the outlnes are followed by exposition. Otherwise, I'd trash the book. HELP!

Maranatha,

Bob