Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
The Beast and its number - The next mystic figure is that of the first Wild Beast (Rev. xiii. 1-10) :-the Roman emperor Nero, a mail whom Paid speaks of by the similar name of " the Lion " (2 Tim. 17). A minute parallel exists between t he description of the beast in Revelation and the character of Nero as depicted in secular history. Says Dr. Farrar (Early Days of' Christianity, 5.28.5) Beyond all shadow of doubt or uncertainty, the Wild Beast from the sea is meant as a symbol Of the emperor Nero. Here, at any rate, St. John has neglected no single means by which he could make his meaning clear without deadly peril to himself and the Christian Church. He describes this Wild Beast by no less than sixteen distinctive marks, and then all but tells us in so many words the name of the person whom it is intended to symbolize." Among the most striking proofs of the. identification are (1) Nero's world-wide power and dominion, (2) his assumptions of the prerogatives of deity, (3) his cruel persecution of the Christians for 42 months (from the end of 64 A.D. to the middle of 68 A.D.), and (4) his own violent, death followed by the belief that widely prevailed that he was not, really dead, but, would ere long emerge from some secret, hiding place. It, is also well-known that in the absence of arithmetical figures the Jews attach a numerical value to the. letters of the alphabet. Hence it is a fact, full of interest and significance that 666, the number of the wild beast, is the value when added together of the Hebrew letters which go to express the emperor's name. For Nero to have been more plainly spoken of. would have been needlessly to compromise the Christian Church.
The harvest and the vintage - We have here a remarkable parallel to the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. xiii. 30) of which Christ had declared the harvest would take place at the end of the age, i.e., at, the end of the Jewish dispensation. Here, however, there is a twofold division, the harvest of the land (or earth) corresponding to the reaping of the wheat and its reception into the garner, whilst the cutting down of the vine and the gathering of the vintage and the treading of the winepress of the wrath of God is wholly a work of judgment and destruction, corresponding to the binding together and burning of the tares. In the1600 furlongs (Rev. xiv. 20), we have a reference to the geographical length of Palestine-200 miles from north to South.
Babylon probably Jerusalem - In a profoundly interesting section of "the Parousia" Dr. Russell has argued forcibly against the traditional identification of the Babylon of Rev. xvii-xix with Rome, pagan or papal. He has given striking reasons for adopting the remarkable conclusion that "the great harlot sitting on a scarlet colored beast " and drunken with the blood of saints and martyrs [1] is the faithless city of Jerusalem, which had so persistently violated the marriage covenant that existed between herself and her God. It is to be remembered in this connexion that Peter (Acts iv. 26) applies to the rulers of Palestine the term kings of the land (or earth)," which occurs in Rev. xvii. 18.
The binding of Satan - In Rev. xx. the acts of binding the dragon and of raising the saints must fall within the term 'shortly' by which the Revelation is repeatedly limited. Then follows an exceedingly long period of time spoken of as " a thousand years." This in the nature of the case goes beyond the limits of 'shortly' and extends into the distant, future. During this period the imprisonment of Satan continues, and the saints in heaven reign with Christ over the earth, and doubtless also over the human race in the invisible world of spirits (Matt. xxviii. 18). There is no reason why we should not accept the narrative in its entirety, and the clear statement of Rev. xx. 3 that for the whole period of " a thousand years " Satan was to be deprived of all ability to deceive the nations. This is far more. than a declaration that for the term of his imprisonment the power of the dragon is partially restricted and repressed. Let us therefore thankfully accept the fact that, at the coming of the Kingdom of God in 70 A.D. the devil was dethroned and placed under complete restraint ; and that for the last eighteen hundred years (a part, only of that exceedingly long period which in accordance with the usages of everyday life is spoken of in a general way as "a thousand years ") he at any rate has been deprived of all power to tempt and injure the human race. Perplexing as this statement may appear to some, it becomes intelligible and credible when we remember that in Scripture Satan is represented as being only the head and chief of a vast confederacy of rebel spirits. It is not until the end of the Millennial Kingdom (when Christ will surrender the Kingdom to God, even the Father) that God will have put all His enemies under His feet, and have abolished all rule and all authority and power. [2] If the devil was bound and imprisoned in the abyss at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, then, ever since that period, his work of tempting and injuring mankind has had to be done for him by subordinate evil spirits. The fact that they have only been able to do it with inferior power and inferior knowledge and skill, and-inferior courage (for now that their ringleader is vanquished they realise that their defeat awaits them also) helps to account for the vast improvement in the moral condition of the world which has undoubtedly taken place since the introduction of Christianity. When the apostles cast out evil spirits Christ saw that the work which they were thus helping to begin would be consummated in the expulsion of the devil himself from heaven (Rev. xii. 10), and in this his subsequent imprisonment in the abyss. Probably it was to the event of Rev. xii. 10 that our Lord prophetically referred when He declared that He declared that lie had seen Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke x. 18). Possibly also the same transactions were contemplated by Christ as destined to come to pass in the near future, when just before His crucifixion He declared : " Now is a judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this World be cast out " (John xii. 31, margin Revised Bible). Be this as it may, it is at least certain (Rom. xvi. 20) that if . Paul wrote with divine authority Satan was bruised beneath the feet of the primitive Christians shortly after the epistle to the Romans was written (58 A.D.) Our Lord, also, taught that among the first steps to be taken in His work of delivering man from the power of evil must be the casting out of the strong one who for so long had had dominion over the world; and that the expulsion of evil spirits by Himself and His apostles was a sure indication of the near approach of the time when Satan would be dethroned, and the Kingdom of God and of heaven set up over the earth. "How can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. If I by the spirit of God cast out demons, then is the Kingdom of God come upon you" (Matt. xii. 29, 28).
The first resurrection - From Daniel xii. 2 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt") we have reason to believe that a partial resurrection of the wicked (that is of unbelievers who were ripe for judgment) took place at the same time as the resurrection of the saints recorded in Rev. xx. 4. It is true that neither here nor in John v. 25 have we any mention of it, but (since mere silence proves nothing one way or the other) the omission is not fatal to the identity of this event with that recorded in Daniel. Nor does the statement even of Rev. xx. 5 contradict the supposition. That verse merely teaches that no one else from among those who were dead at that time had any share in a resurrection to eternal life until the exceedingly long period expressed by the term "a thousand years " was finished.
It is clear that we are now living in the midst of the Millennium. * At the present moment the ringleader of evil is under complete restraint, and the saints in heaven are reigning with Christ over the whole human race. None of the events described in the Apocalypse after the distinct statement of this long interval of time can be included in the term "shortly," by which all the other contents of the book are expressly limited. Thus in xx. 12 we have a description of a world-wide judgment yet to come (also solemnly predicted by Jesus in John v. 29) when the dead, great and small, shall stand before the throne and be judged according to their works. In the account of the new heavens and the new earth, and of the descent to earth of the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, we have a prophecy of that blessed consummation of all things, one day to be realised, when all sin and sorrow shall have ceased, and when the will of our righteous and loving God will be done on earth as perfectly as it is now done in heaven.
*For further discussion of the question of the Millennium, the reader is referred to the preface to the second edition.
[1] "Ye are sons of them that slew the prophets," said Jesus to the Jews (Matt xxiii. 31). "Behold I send unto you prophets; some of them shall ye kill and crucify" (verse 34). "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto her " (verse 37). It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem (Luke xiii. 33).
[2] I Cor. xv. 24, 25.