Exposition of the Whole Bible

and purified; a more pure and glorious ftate of the church will take place, in which there will be great purity of gofpel-worfhip, difcipline, and converfation; when the word will be more purely preached, the ordinances more purely adminiftred, and the faints will live more holy lives and converfations, fignified by the witnefies afcending up into heaven, Rev. xi. 12: they fhall call on my name; which includes the whole of divine worfhip, and particularly defigns prayer, that pure offering and incenfe, which fhall now be offered to the namefof the Lord in every place, Ma/.i. 11. hence it follows, and I will bear them accept their prayers, and give an anfwer to them: fo the Zar- q1i gum paraphrafes the words, ® he fhall pray in my “* name,.and I will receive his prayer:” J will fay, it is my people, the Lord will make it appear to themfelves and others, that they are his fpecial, | peculiar, and. covenant-people, by calling them out of Babylon; by beftowing his. favours upon them and by granting his préfence with them, as well as by: the witneffings of his Spirit ro them; fee Rev. xviii. 4. and xix. 1: and they foall fay, the Lord is my God;, they fhall know him to be their covenant-God and Father, and claim their intereft in him, and acknowledge him as fuch; which is the greateft happinefs that can be enjoyed, P/- cxliv. 15. Rev. xxi. 3.

HIS chapter treats of the coming of Chrift with all his faints,and his perfonal appearance among them; and of the figns of the times before that; and of what fhall befal the enemies of the church, both open and fecret; and of the happy {tate and condition of the church itfelf. Firft there will be a time of great affliction to the people of God, ¥. 1, 2. when the Lord will appear and fight for them, and will appear to them, and with them, ¥. 3, 4, 5. but before this time it will be an uncommon feafon, neither day nor night; at the clofe of which, light will break forth, y¥. 6, 7. the gofpel will be fpread far and near, attended with the Spirit and grace of God in great plenty, y. 8. which will bring on the fpiritual reign of Chrift over all the earth, ¥. 9. particularly the land of Fudea, and the city of Ferufalem, thall be inhabited by men with fafety, ¥. 10, 11. and all thofe that oppofe and fight againft the Lord’s people fhall be deftroyed, partly by an immediate plague from the Lord upon them, and partly by the hands of one another, and alfo by the faints of the Moft High; and the plague fhall not only be upon their perfons, but upon their cattel likewife, ¥. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. and as for thofe that profefs the chriftian name, and yet neglect or refufe to worfhip the Lord in a fpiritual and evangelical manner, there fhall be no rain upon them, y. 17, 18, 19. and as for the church and people of God, there fhall be univerfal holinefs among them, and not a fingle Canaanite to be found in the midft of them, ¥. 20, 21.

y. 1. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, &c.} Or the day when the Lord will come, both in his fpiritual and perfonal reign; for this is not to be underftood of his firft coming in the flefh, at which time none of the things after-mentioned happened; nor of his coming to take vengeance on the Yews; but rather of his coming to convert them: and thy fpoil fhall be divided in the midft of thee; not the fubftance of the nations, divided by the J/raelites in the midft of Ferufalem, as the Targum and Farchi interpret it; but the fpoil of 7erujalem, when taken by the enemy, as is after faid, which fhould be divided by them with great joy and triumph, in the midft of it: this refers not to the fpoil of Ferufalem by- Antiochus or the Romans, but to the flaying of the witneffes, and the triumph of their enemies over them, Rev. xi. 7, 10. or elfe to the fpoil and prey the Turks will come to Ferufalem for, when it hall be in the poffeffion of the

¥. 2. For I will gather all nations againft Ferufakem to battel, &c.| Meaning not the Romans, in the time of Ve/pafian, for they were not all nations; nor did a part of the city only go into captivity then, but the whole; nor did any remain in it: it feems right to refer it to the gathering of the kings of the earth to the battel of the Lord God Almighty at Armageddon, Rev. xvi. 14—16. unlefs it may be thought better to interpret it of the vaft numbers out of feveral nations, the Turé will bring again{t Ferufalem, to difpoffefs the Fews of it, by whom it will be again inhabited in the latter day;: fee Ezek, xxxviii. 4—8. and Kimchi interprets it of the Gog and Magog-army. The Fews, in their ancient Midrafbes *, apply it to the times of the Meffiah; which is true, if underftood, not of the firft times of the Meffiah, whofe coming they vainly expect, but of the laft times of the Meffiah. And the city foall be taken, and the houfes rifled, and the women ravifbed, and half of the city fhall go into captivity; this will be the time when the outward court fhall be given to the Gentiles, the papifts; the two witneffes fhall be flain, and their enemies fhall rejoice and fend gifts to one another; Rev. xi. 2, 7, 10. this will be a trying feafon; and fuch a time of trouble as has not been known: and the refidue of the people fhall not be cut off from the city; there will be a remnant accordifig to the election’ of grace; the city, the church, fhall not be wholly extinct; Chrift will referve a feed for himfelf in thofe very worft of times, as he has always done: this cannot refer to the deftruction of Ferufalem by. the Romans, for then all the inhabitants of the city were cut off, or cartied captive, and none left; but, if literally to be underftood, muft refer to what will be, when the army of Gog fhall come againft it in the latter day; though thefe circumftances are not mentioned in Ezekiel,.

y¥. 3. Then fhall the Lord go forth, 8éc.] Out of his place in heaven, either in perfon, or by the difplay of his power; that is, the Lord Jefus Chrift, whofe namé is called the Word of God, and is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, defcribed as a mighty warrior, Rev. xix. 11,.&c: and fight againft thofe nations, as when he fought in the day of battel; the Targum adds, at the Red-fea; when the Lord fought for [/rael againft the Egyptians, Exod. xiv. 25. and afterwards againft the Canaanites, when they entred the land of Canaan under Fo/hua: thus Chrift fhall judge, and make war in haat and overcome thofe that fhall make war with him; and with the fharp fword that goeth out of his mouth fhall fmite nations, and with a rod of iron rule them; and break them to fhivers, Rev. xiv. 14. and xix. 11, 15. and ii. 27. fee alfo: Ezek. XXXViil. 21, 22. and xxxix. I, 3, 4.

y..4. And his feet foall ftand in that day upon the mount of Olives, &c.| Where he often:was in the days of his flefh, and: from whence he: afcended to heaven, Luke xxi. 37. and xxiii. 29. Afs ii. 12. but’ here he did not appear at the time of the de- {truction of Ferufalem; wherefore this muft refer toa time to come; and feeing it is certain that he will {tand in the latter day on the earth, at the time of the refurrection, and will come down from heaven in like manner as he went up; it feems very probable that he will defcend upon that very fpot of ground from whence he afcended, Yod xix. 25, 26, 27. Aétsi. 11, 12. The Fews* have a notion, that at the general refurreétion of the dead, the mount of Olives will cleave afunder, and thofe of their nation, who:have been buried in other countries, will be rolled thro’ the caverns of the earth, and come out from under that mountain. This is what they call Gilgul Hammetim, the rolling of the: dead; and Gilgul Hammechiloth, the rolling thro’ the caverns. So they fay in the Targum of Cant. viii. 5. ** when the dead hall live, the “© mount of Olives fhall be cleaved afunder, and ‘¢ all the dead of J/rae/ fhall come out from uns¢ der it; yea, even the righteous, which die in ‘¢ captivity, fhall pafs thro’ fubterraneous caverns, “¢ and come from under the mount.of Ofives.” This is fometimes ‘ reprefented as very painful to the righteous; but another writer * removes this objection by obferving,; that at the time of the rolling thro’ the caverns of the earth, we may fay that this rolling will be of no other than of the bone Luz, out of which the whole body will {pring; fo that this bufinefs of rolling will be eafy and without pain; but they are not all agreed about the thing itfelf: Kimchi fays®, ** there is a divi- ‘* fion in the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead without the land (2. e. of J/rael); fome of them fay, that thofe without the land fhall come up out of their graves; and others fay, they fhall come out of their graves to the land of J/rael by rolling, and by the way of the caverns; but this verfe (Hzek. xxxvii. 12.) proves, that thofe without the land fhall live, as the dead of the land of J/rael; for it fays, I wail open your graves, and caufe you to come up out of your graves, and after that, aad I will bring you “* into the land of Ifrael.” Which is before Ferufalem on the eaft, a fabbath-day’s journey from it, about a mile, Asi. 12: and the mount of Olives feall cleave in the midft thereof toward the eaft, and toward the weft, and there foall be avery great valley, and half of the mountain fall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the fouth; and this valley will be made by cleaving and removing the. mountain in this manner, to hold the dead together when raifed; and this is thought by fome to be the fame withthe valley of Fehofbaphat, called the valley of decifion, into which, the heathen being awakened. and raifed, will be brought and judged, ¥oe/ iii. 2,

‘our cafe now. Some read the words, shen, ye 5: And ye fhall- fice to the valley of the mountains, &cc.}. To feek for fhelter and fafety in. them,. for fear of the Lord, and. the glory of his majefty, whom every eye fhall fee, [/-ii-19. Rev, iv 7: for the valley of the mountains fhall reach unto Azal, a name of a-place not known; it may be thought to be at fome.confiderable diftance: yea,, ye foall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah king of Fudab; two years before which Amos prophefied, Amos i. 1. and which, according to Yo/ephus, was at the time when king» Uzziah was {tricken.with a leprofy for invading the priefts office; when, as he fays, at.a place before the city called Eroge, half part of the moun= tain towards the weft was broken, and rolled four furlongs towards the eaftern part, and there ftood; fo that the ways were {topped up to the king’s gardens: and the Lord my God jhall come; the Lord Jefus Chrift, who is truly God, and the God of his people; and who will..appear to be fo at his fecond coming, which’ is here meant, by raifing the dead, gathering all nations before him, and fepa~ rating them; by bringing to light all fecret and hidden things; judging the whole world, and executing the fentence on them; and. particularly, by. taking his own people to himfelf: and all the faints with thee; the Targum, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and. Aradic verfions read, with him, meaning. either the holy angels; fo Aten Ezra, Kimchi, and: Ben Melech; who will attend ‘him partly for theglory of his majefty, and partly for terror to the wicked, and alfo for. fervice; or rather glorified. faints, the fpirits of juft men made perfect, whom Chrift will bring with him to be united to their bodies, which will now be raifed, and to be with him.in the new heavens and new earth, which will now be formed, and to be prefented to him, and: dwell with him, during the thoufand years.

y. 6. And it foall come to pafs in that day, 8c.}. Which fhall precede the coming of Chrift, both; his fpiritual and perfonal reign; for what follows. will not agree with either ftate: #hat the light fhall not be clear nor dark; before the latter day-glory it will be.a darkith difpenfation; not clear, as in the firft times of the gofpel, when the fun of righteoufnefs appeared, and the fhadows of the ceremonial law were removed, and the gofpel fhone out in the miniftry of Chrift and his apoftles; nor as at the Reformation from popery, when the morning-ftar was given, Rev. ii. 28. nor as it will be in the fpiritual reign of Chrift, when Zion’s light will be come, and her watchmen will fee eye to eye; when the light of the moon fhall be as the light of the fun, and the light of the fun feven- fold as the light of feven' days; and much lefsas ~ it will be in the kingdom-ftate, when there will be no need of the fun or moon; or in the ultimate — glory, when we fhall fee no more darkly through, — a glafs, but face to face: and yet it will not be: dark,.as it was with the Fews under the legal dif- _ penfation; and-much lefs as with the Gentiles bee fore the coming of Chrift; or as in the dark times of popery; it will be a fort of a twilight, both with refpect to the light of doctrine, and of fpir tual joy, comfort, and experience; which no light, but cold and fro; it will be a tim at PE “oil ES ete it ke ee J great coldnefs and lukewarmnefs, ‘with regard to divine and fpiritual things; iniquity will abound, and the love of many wax cold, Matt. xxiv. 12, ¥. 7. But it foall be one day, &c.]. A very fingular, remarkable, and uncommon one; and it will be but one day; things won’t continue long in fuch a pofition: which fhall be. known to the Lord; all times and feafons are known unto the Lord, but this will come under his fpecial notice and obfervation, and be under the direétion of his fpecial providence; it will only be taken notice of by him, and not by others; fearce any will obferve it, or know what God is doing in it, or about to do: zot day nor night; not clear and full day as at noon; nor yet quite night or dark as at midnight; fee the note on ¥. 6: but it fhall come to pas, that at evening-time it fhall be light; after this day is over, which is neither clear nor dark, there will be an evening-time; things will be worfe with us than they are; the fun will be fet; Chrift will be withdrawn in the miniftry of the word; his witneffes will be flain and filenced; great coldnefs and lukewarmnefS will feize upon profefiors’; great darknefs of error will fpread itfelf every where; great fleepinefs and fecurity will fall upon all the virgins, and there will be great diftrefS of nations: and when it wilf be feared and expected that greater darknefs and diftrefs ftill are coming on, Aghr will break forth; deliverance and falvation from popifh darknefs and tyranny will be wrought; the light of the gofpel will break forth, and fpread itfelf every where; the light of joy and gladnefs will arife to all the faints, and it will be a time of great fpiritual peace, profperity, and happinefs. Vizringa on J/. Ix. 20. interprets it, there fhall be no viciffitude, or fucceffion of day and night, but all day; at evening it fhall be light; no calamity nor forrow; Chrift the light, and fun of righteoufnefs, will break out in a glorious and fpiritual man- y¥. 8. And it fhall be in that day, that living waters foall go out from Ferufalem; &c.] When it fhall be light; and this is one of the things which will make it fo; for by Hving waters are meant the gofpel, and the doctrines of it; compared to running waters for the found of them, which will then go into all the earth; for the fwiftnefs in which they fhall proceed; for their rapidity and force in bearing all before them; for the great fpread of them; and for their virtue and efficacy in cooling thofe who are inflamed with the fiery law; refrefhing thirfty fouls; purifying the hearts and lives of finners, and making thofe that are barren fruitful; and to Aving waters, becaufe they are the means of quickening dead finners, and of reviving drooping faints; and becaufe they ferve to fupport and maintain a {piritual life, and nourifh up unto eternal life, and direct the way to it, as well as give the beft account of it: and thefe will come out of Ferufalem;, which may defign Ferufalem literally, which will be rebuilt at the time of the ews converfion; or myftically the church, the fpiritual and heavenly Yeru/alem; fee Heb. xii. 22. Exek. xivii. 1. Yoel iii. 18, reference feems to be had to the firft miniftration of the gofpel; which, according to prophecy, came out of Ferufalem, Ui. ii. 3. Half of them towards the former fea; or the eaftern’ fea, as the Targum, the Perfian fea; and may fignify, that the gofpel hall be carried into the éaftern parts of the world, intd Perfia, Tartary, and China, and other nations; and thofe great kingdoms fhall become the kingdoms of Chrift: and half of them toward the hinder fea; or the weftern fea, as the Targum; the Mediterra= nean fea; and may denote the progtefs and fuccefs of the gofpel in the Huropean parts of the world: and the meaning of the whole is, that the gofpel fhall be carried from eaft to weft; and preached all the world ‘over, to the converfion of ‘fews and Gentiles, who, fome think, are defigned by the two feas; when the abundance of the fea fhall be converted by it, and the forces and fulnefs of the Gentiles brought in, and all [/rael faved: in fummer, and in winter fhall it be; there will be no fum* mer of perfecution, nor winter of coldnefs and indifference to hinder the miniftry of the word: the phrafe denotes the conftant miniftry of the word; and the duration of it; it fhall be conftantly preached all the year long; and as long as fummer and winter laft.,

¥. 9. And the Lord foall be king over all the earth; &c.] This refers to the fpiritual reign of Chrift in the latter day; upon the fuccefs of the gofpel every where, there will be great converfions in all places; gofpel-churches will be fet up, and ordinances adminiftred every where; the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord; his kingdom will be from fea to fea, from the eaftern to the weftern one, and his dominion will reach to the ends of the earth; popifh nations, Mabometan kingdoms, pagan ones, and all the kings of thé earth, will become chriftian, and fubmit to the fceptre of Chrift’s kingdom: iz that day fall there be one Lord; there is but one Lord in right now; and there is but one in fact that is owned by real chriftians; ‘and there will be but one in the fpiritual reign, among all that are called chriftians; there will be but one Lord and head to Fews and Gentiles, Hof. i. 11. the pope of Rome will be no more owned as head of the church, nor any other: and bis name one; this refers not to any particular name by which Chrift fhall be called, but rather to that by which his people fhall be called; all names of diftinétion being now laid afide, and only that of chriftians retained; tho’ it chiefly defigns unity of doctrine, uniformity of worfhip, one and the fame way of adminiftring ordinances: it fignifies, that there will be one true, fpiritual, uniform worfhip and religion; there will be no different fentiments and principles in religion; nor different practices and modes of worfhip; nor different fects; but all agreeing in the fame faith and practice, under one Lord and king Chrift Jefus. So the Targum, °° they fhall ferve before the Lord with fe Gadhouldr; for his name is firm in the world, «¢ and there is none befides it.” This paflage is referred by the ancient Yews ’ to the times of the Meffiah.

y. 10. All the land fhall be turned as a plain, &c.] That is, all the land of J/rael round about Ferufalem, which was encompafied with mountains, Pf. cxxv. 2. but now thefe mountains fhall become a plain, that that may be feen; fince it follows, from Gébab to Rimmon, fouth of Ferufalem; Geba was a city in the tribe of Benjamin, on the northern border of the land; Yo/s. xxi. 17. and Rimmon was in the tribe of Yudab, given to Simeon, on the fouthern part, o/b. xv. 32. and xix. 7, fo that from Gebab to Rimmon, was the nhs as ftom Geba to Beerfhebab, which was in the fame tribe, 2 Kings xxiii, 8. and according to the Fewi h writers, the fouth of Feru/falem was a plain; wherefore the meaning feems to be, that the whole land, from Gebah to Rimmon, fhould be like that. Feron makes merition of a village called Remmon in his tinse, fifteen miles to the north of Feru/alem; which cannot be the place here meant, and yet fpeaks of it as in the tribe of Simeon or Fudab, and afterwards takes notice of another village called Remmus in Daroma, or the fouth™: to me it feems that Gebah and Rimmon were places near to one another, and both in the tribe of Benjamin; fee 1 Sam. xiv. 4. where the word rendered pomegranate is Rimmon, and is the proper name of a place, according to fome; the fame with that in Fuag. xx. 47. where was a rock, called the rock Rimmon: and Fonathan ben Uzziel on 1 Sam, xiv. 2. renders it, the plain of the pomegranate, or rather, the plain of Rimmon; and the Fews make mention in their Telinud" of the valley of Rimmon, where feven elders met to intercalate the year; and here, they fay, was a marble rock, in which every one | faftened a nail, and therefore it is called the rock of nails.

ley that was between Gebah and Kimmon., interprets it of the whole world. ‘And this will be literally true of the new earth, in the thoufand years reign, which will be without hills, mountains, and feas, Rev. xxi. 1. Jt may be myttically underftood of the fpiritual reign of Chrift, when the whole world will become chriftian,; when Jews and Gentiles, and even the kings of the earth, fhall bow the Knee to Chrift, and be fubjeét to him. And it foall be lifted up, and inhabited in ber place; that is, ‘ferufalem, which fhall appear very high, all the land round about being a plain; and being’ rebuilt, fhall be inhabited on the fame fpot of ground it formerly was: or the church may be meant, which in the latter day will be greatly ex-. alted, and will be filled with, and inhabited by, fome of all the nations.of the world, J/ ii. 2, 3: Srom Benjamin's gate, unto the place of the firfi-gate; not that called the high gate of Benjamin, and’ which was near the temple, Fer. xx. 2. and feems to be one of its gates; and fuch an one there was, which in Arabic was called Bab Alafbat, the gate of the tribes, where was the pool of the blood of the facrifices; and is faid to be not far from another gate, called the gate of mercy °; but this is that which led out of the city, and was one of its gates towards the land of Benjamin, from whence it had its name, and thro’ which Feremiab attempted to go when he was {topped by the cap-' tain of the ward, Yer. xxxvii. 13. this,. to Grotius, was on the north of Ferufalem: Mr. Fuiler ® places it more rightly in the north-eaft! part of it, as does Adrichomius 4, who wrongly con-' founds it with the corner-gate after-mentioned, whichis here manifeftly diftinguifhed from it; and which miftake alfo Schindler ' gives into, and like-. wile Arias Montanus* and others. The firft-gate is the fame with the old gate in Neb. iii. 6. and-xii. 39. Unto the corner-gate; the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Ephraim, are the fame, as is thought by Grotius, the diftance between that gate, and the corner-gate, was four hundred cubits, 2 Kings xiv. 13: and fom the tower of Hananeel, unto the king’s wine-prefjes; mention is made of the tower of Hananeel in Neb. iii, 1: and xii. 39: Jer, xxxi. 38. it was to the fouth of Yerufalem; and is called in the Yargdim the tower of Pikkus: the king’s”

wine-prefes doubtlefs were where his vineyards were; king Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon,

Cant, viii. 11, Grotius fays the place where thefe wine-preflés were, was at Sion, in the inmoft part of the city; and fo Adrichomius* places them in mount Sion; tho” Kimchi {peaks of them as without the city; and Yarchi makes mention of an Agadah or expofition, which interprets them of the great ocean, which reaches from ‘feru/alem to the © end of the world, the lakes which the King of kings has made. Very probably thefe places lay eaft, weft, north, and fouth;, and fo denote the amplitude of the city, and the largenefs and extenfivenefs of the church of Chrift, fignified thereby; fee Ezek. xlviii. 4

¥. 11. And men fhall dwell in it, &c.] Yn great numbers, in much peace and fafety, and from ge-_ neration to generation: den Ezra fays, Meffiah

| the fon of David will now come: and there fhail be Now the fenfe feems to be, that all the | land of J/vael fhould become a plain, like the val- no Cherem, no anathema, in a religious fenfe; im the old tranflation it is, and there foall be no more curfing; there will be no curfe in the Jerufalemftate, Rev. xxii. 3. which words feem to be taken from hence; no curfed thing, nor curfed perfon, or any curfe or anathema denounced againft any 5 no popifh bulls and anathemas, nor any ‘other: but Ferufalem Jhall be fafely inhabited; the inhabi-. tants of it fhall dwell fecurely, without any apprehenfion of danger, and having no enemies to fears tho’ before this fafe and happy ftate, there will be many enemies; and what will become of them, is fhown in the following verfes.

y. 12. And this fhall be the plague, &c.| ‘This refpects One or more, or all of the feven plagues, which will be inflicted on the antichriftian ftates, mentioned in Rev. xv. and xvi: wherewith the Lord will jmite all the people that have fought againft Ferufalem; who have been the enemies and perfecutors of his church; and with which plague or plagues, they fhall be utterly confumed and de- __ ftroyed: their flefh fhall confume away, while they jiand upon their feet; antichrift will be confumed with the breath of Chrift’s mouth; the flefh of the whore of Rome, which is her fubftance, fhall be eaten and devoured by the kings of the earth; and her deftruction will be in a moment, fuddenly and at unawares, as is here fuggefted; fee 2 Theff. ii.

scording | 8. Rev. xvii. 16. and xviii. 8, 10: and their eyes foall confume away in their holes; the right eye of, the idol-fhepherd fhall be utterly dried up, and the kingdom of the beaft will be full of darknefs, Zech. Ki. 17. Rev. xvi. 10: and their tongues foall confume away in'their mouth, with which antichrift — and his followers have blafphemed the name of God, his tabernacle, and his faints; and which they will gnaw for pain, when the plague God _ ‘XVI Oy

When the vials are pouring out: that 4 ee y. 13. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, ra mult —