And the nations were angry
See ( Psalms
99:1 ) , which the Septuagint render, the "Lord reigns, let
the nations be angry". This refers not to the times of the
dragon, or the Pagan Roman emperors, who were wroth with the
woman, the church, and made war with her seed; but Rome Papal,
and its Gentiles, are intended; these are the nations that
antichrist reigns over: and it does not so much design their
anger against Christ, and his people, expressed by their
anathemas, excommunications, murders; and massacres, and bloody
persecutions, which could not be cause of thanksgiving to the
elders; but their anger and resentment at his power and reign, at
having the outward court taken from them, said to be given them,
( Revelation 11:2 ) ; and
at their loss of power, profit, pleasure, and plenty, through the
fall of Babylon, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom; and
though these things will make the Gentiles, the followers of
antichrist, gnash their teeth, it will occasion joy and
thanksgiving among the saints:
and thy wrath is come:
the time is come to make Babylon, or the Romish antichrist, to
drink of the wine of the fierceness of divine wrath; as the time
of the Lamb's wrath and vengeance upon Rome Pagan was come at the
opening of the sixth seal, so the time of his wrath and vengeance
on Rome Papal will be come at the sounding of the seventh
trumpet:
and the time of the dead, that they should be
judged;
not the time of the wicked, who are dead in sins, while they
live, and who die in their sins, not their time to be raised from
the dead, in order to be judged, for they will not rise till
after the thousand years are ended; nor the time of the dead in
Christ, who will rise upon Christ's personal coming, at the
beginning of the thousand years; but this trumpet respects not
the personal coming of Christ to raise the dead, and judge the
world, but his spiritual coming to reign in his churches, and
judge their enemies: the time of those that were dead for Christ,
whose blood had been shed in his cause, the time for the
vindication of them, and avenging their blood, is now come; the
souls of those under the altar had been a long time crying to God
to avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth; and now
the time will be come, when God will judge his people, vindicate
their cause; and when he, to whom vengeance belongs, will repay
it, by pouring out the vials of his wrath on the antichristian
party, by giving them blood to drink, because they are worthy;
this judgment will issue in the fall and ruin both of the western
and eastern antichrist.
And that thou shouldest give reward unto thy
servants;
not a reward of debt, but of grace; not the recompence of reward,
or the reward of the inheritance in heaven; but some marks of
honour and respect; some measure of happiness, peace, and joy,
which Christ of his rich grace will give to his ministers and
churches, and all that love him in this glorious period of time;
and who are distinguished in the following manner,
the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy
name, small
and great:
by the "prophets" are meant, not the prophets of the Old
Testament, but the prophets of the New; and not those
extraordinary persons, who are distinguished on the one hand from
apostles and evangelists, and on the other from pastors and
teachers, who had an extraordinary gift of interpreting the
Scriptures, and of foretelling things to come; but the ministers
of the word, the two prophets or witnesses, who had prophesied in
sackcloth, but shall now be clothed with salvation: and by "the
saints" are designed such as were set apart by God the Father
from eternity, and whose sins are expiated by the blood of
Christ, and who are internally sanctified by the, Spirit of God,
and externally separated from the rest of mankind, and
incorporated into a Gospel church state, and are in holy
fellowship one with another: and they that "fear the name" of God
are such as truly love and reverence him, and worship him in
Spirit and in truth, but are not members of any particular
church; who yet will be taken notice of by the Lord, and a book
of remembrance be written for them; so the proselytes from among
the Gentiles are distinguished from the Israelites by the same
character; (See Gill on Acts
13:16); or rather this is a general character of both
ministers and churches, since to fear the name of the Lord is a
phrase that includes all religious worship, internal and
external. And now all these, "small and great", whether greater
or lesser believers, whether men of larger or meaner gifts and
abilities, will all have the same reward, enjoy the same church
privileges, partake of the same ordinances, in the purity of
them, have the same communion with God, and fellowship with
Christ, and one another, and share in, the same common peace, and
liberty, and security from enemies: the last thing taken notice
of by these elders, as matter of thanksgiving, is the destruction
of antichrist.
And shouldest destroy them which destroy the
earth;
or "corrupt it"; meaning antichrist and his followers; who
destroy the bodies, souls, and estates of men, and not only the
inhabitants of the earth, but even the earth itself; for through
that laziness and idleness which they spread wherever they come,
a fruitful country is turned into barrenness; who corrupt the
minds of men with false doctrine, idolatry, and superstition, and
the bodies of women and men with all uncleanness and filthiness,
with fornication, sodomy ( Revelation
19:2 ) ; and are the cause of their own destruction, and the
destruction of others; which, upon the blowing of the seventh
trumpet, will come swiftly and irrecoverably. Now will Babylon
sink as a millstone into the sea, never to be seen more; both the
western and eastern antichrists are intended; the former is
called the son of perdition, because of his destroying others,
and going into perdition himself; and the latter is called
"Abaddon" and "Apollyon", which both signify a destroyer, (
2
Thessalonians 1:4 ) ( Revelation
9:11 ) .