Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John · Isaac Newton
CHAP. II.
The Prophecy therefore of the seven thunders is nothing else than a repetition of the Prophecy of the seven trumpets in another form. _And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, that_ after the seven thunders _there should be time no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets_. The voices of the thunders therefore last to the end of this world, and so do those of the trumpets. _And the voice which I heard from heaven_, saith _John_, _spake unto me again and said, Go and take the little book, &c. And I took the little book out of the Angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings_. This is an introduction to a new Prophecy, to a repetition of the Prophecy of the whole book; and alludes to _Ezekiel_'s eating a roll or book spread open before him, and written within and without, full of lamentations and mourning and woe, but sweet in his mouth. Eating and drinking signify acquiring and possessing; and eating the book is becoming inspired with the Prophecy contained in it. It implies being inspired in a vigorous and extraordinary manner with the Prophecy of the whole book, and therefore signifies a lively repetition of the whole Prophecy by way of interpretation, and begins not till the first Prophecy, that of the seals and trumpets, is ended. It was sweet in _John_'s mouth, and therefore begins not with the bitter Prophecy of the _Babylonian_ captivity, and the _Gentiles_ being in the outward court of the Temple, and treading the holy city under foot; and the prophesying of the _two Witnesses_ in sackcloth, and their smiting the earth with all plagues, and being killed by the Beast; but so soon as the Prophecy of the trumpets is ended, it begins with the sweet Prophecy of the glorious _Woman in heaven_, and the victory of _Michael_ over the Dragon; and after that, it is bitter in _John_'s belly, by a large description of the times of the great Apostacy.
_And the Angel stood_, upon the earth and sea, _saying, Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar, and them that worship therein_, that is, their courts with the buildings thereon, viz. the square court of the Temple called the separate place, and the square court of the Altar called the Priests court, and the court of them that worship in the Temple called the new court: _but the_ great _court which is without the Temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given to the _Gentiles_, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months_. This measuring hath reference to _Ezekiel_'s measuring the Temple _of Solomon_: there the whole Temple, including the outward court, was measured, to signify that it should be rebuilt in the latter days. Here the courts of the Temple and Altar, and they who worship therein, are only measured, to signify the building of a second Temple, for those that are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of _Israel_, and worship in the inward court of sincerity and truth: but _John_ is commanded to leave out the outward court, or outward form of religion and Church-government, because it is given to the _Babylonian Gentiles_.
For the glorious woman in heaven, the remnant of whole seed kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of _Jesus_, continued the same woman in outward form after her flight into the wilderness, whereby she quitted her former sincerity and piety, and became the great Whore. She lost her chastity, but kept her outward form and shape. And while the _Gentiles_ tread the holy city underfoot, and worship in the outward court, the two witnesses, represented perhaps by the two feet of the Angel standing on the sea and earth, prophesied against them, and _had power_, like _Elijah_ and _Moses_, _to consume their enemies with fire proceeding out of their mouth, and to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophecy, and to turn the waters into blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will_, that is, with the plagues of the trumpets and vials of wrath; and at length they are slain, rise again from the dead, and ascend up to heaven in a cloud; and then the seventh trumpet sounds to the day of judgment.
The Prophecy being finished, _John_ is inspired anew by the eaten book, and begins the Interpretation thereof with these words, _And the Temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of the Testament_. By the Ark, we may know that this was the first Temple; for the second Temple had no Ark. _And there were lightnings, and voices, and thundrings, and an earthquake, and great hail_. These answer to the wars in the _Roman_ Empire, during the reign of the four horsemen, who appeared upon opening the first four seals. _And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun_. In the Prophecy, the affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the opening of the fifth seal; and in the Interpretation, they begin at the same time with the vision of the Church in the form of a woman in heaven: there she is persecuted, and here she is pained in travail. The Interpretation proceeds down first to the sealing of the servants of God, and marking the rest with the mark of the Beast; and then to the day of judgment, represented by a harvest and vintage. Then it returns back to the times of opening the seventh seal, and interprets the Prophecy of the seven trumpets by the pouring out of seven vials of wrath. The Angels who pour them out, come out of the _Temple of the Tabernacle_; that is, out of the second Temple, for the Tabernacle had no outward court. Then it returns back again to the times of measuring the Temple and Altar, and of the _Gentiles_ worshiping in the outward court, and of the Beast killing the witnesses in the streets of the great city; and interprets these things by the vision of _a woman sitting on the Beast, drunken with the blood of the Saints_; and proceeds in the interpretation downwards to the fall of the great city and the day of judgment.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.