The Interpretation of the Apocalypse & the Chief Prophetical Scriptures Connected with it

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THE
INTERPRETATION
A P O C A L Y P S E
•
asp
:
3.
º
THE CHIEF PROPHETICAL SCRIPTURES
CONNECTED WITH IT,
BY
WILLIAM HENRY SCOTT, M.A.,
LATE FELLow of BRAsENos.E college, OxforD.
Ilukpavei oov rºv kot\tav, &AA’ #v rº, orópart oov šaral y\vkö
&c puéAt.-Rev. x. 9.
LONDON :
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1853.
[TheAuthorofthis WorkreserveshisrightofauthorisingaTranslationofit.]
228
Seo &
TO
THE REVEREND
EDWARD HAYES PLUM PTRE, M.A.
CHAPLAIN AND HONORARY FELLow of KING's COLLEGE, LONDON,
AssistANT PREACHER AT LINCOLN's INN,
AND LATE FELLOW of BRASENOSE College, OxforD,
T H I S V O L U M E
IS INSCRIBED,
BY HIS SINCERE AND OBLIGED FRIEND,
2
THE AUTHOR.
Po
7{}3 i 9 i
ADW ERTISE MENT.
IT may be well at the outset to put the reader in possession
ofthe main points which the Authorhas undertaken toestablish
in the following pages. They are these:—that the principal
subject ofthe Apocalypse is the Roman empire, and Rome the
capital ofthatempire; that a minute prophecy ofevents, times,
and persons, connected either with the one or with the other of
these, is there given; that, in particular, the abolition of the
empire is represented, and that the date of this occurrence is
assumed to be theyear 476 whenthe emperors ofRome ceased;
further, that the millennial period following the fall of Rome
corresponds to those ten centuries ofthe reign of the Church
known as the Middle Ages; that an interval of forty years is
represented as separating the fall of the Roman from the
beginning of the Church empire; that the latter, therefore,
definitelybegan in the year516, and endedwith the year 1516;
that its overthrow was, in fact, the immediate result of the
Reformation of 1517; that the imperial power of the Church
was taken away at the Reformation in punishmentfor the sins
of the Church during the thousand years; that her position
from the year 1517 to the present day, is analogous to the
captivity of Israel in Babylon during the seventy years; finally,
that this captivity is not to be perpetual, but that a complete
restoration ofthe Church to her former supremacy is now to be
expected; and that this is to be brought aboutinthemidst,and
by the agency, ofjudgments upon the temporal kingdoms ofthe
modern world, analogous to those which overwhelmed the
empire of Rome in the fifth century, and so opened the way for
the Church empire ofthe Middle Ages.
-
vi ADVERTISEMENT,
Ofthe arguments establishing these positions, nothing can be
said by anticipation, except, generally, that their force will be
found to lie in the combined number and accuracy of the coin
cidences resulting, according to the scheme of interpretation
here laid down, between the several component parts of the
Apocalypse viewed in relation to each other, to history, and to
the principal prophecies ofthe Old Testament, those of Ezekiel,
Daniel, and Zechariah, more especially.
In regard ofthe passages of Scripture cited in this Volume,
it should be mentioned that all departures from the text of the
Received Version have been indicated by obeli (f-f), with the
single exception of the vision of Ezekiel discussed in the last
chapter, where the passages altered are too numerous to admit
of being thus distinguished ; moreover, that in the Apocalypse
these alterations have been always made in conformity with
what are now generally considered by critics to be the best
readings ofthe original Greek text, and that in those similarly
made in the Old Testament the authority followed has almost
universally been the German translation of the Hebrew Pro
phetical Scripturesgiven in Ewald's work, “Die Propheten des
# Alten Bundes.” In all that concerns the determination of the
mere literal meaning of the text of those Scriptures, Ewald's
claims toattention are quite indisputable; and in this point of
view, the account to which his work has been turned in the
composition ofthe ensuing pages, andconsequently theacknow
ledgments due to him, can hardly be overstated. Unhappily
the notoriously rationalistic tone of his commentary makes it
almost needless to add that for the interpretation of the pro
phecies, as such, he has done nothing. He simply does not
believe them to be prophecies. According to him they are but
the uninspired productions ofpatriotic Israelites hoping for the
best, and dreaming vaguely, amid national calamities, of a
glorious future. The Author hopes in the Volume here pre
sented to the reader to have proved the contrary.
London,July21st, 1853.
C O N T E N T S.
CHAPTER I.
Page
TheTen HornsandtheLittleHorn - l
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CHAPTER II.
The RangeoftheApocalypse - 22
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CHAPTER III.
TheTwoWitnesses,and theCrownedWoman - 27
- -
chapTER IV.
The FalseProphet - 80
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CHAPTER W.
TheNumber 666 - 106
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CHAPTER VI.
*
Zechariah'sVisionoftheFourChariots - 111
- 4- -
CHAPTER VII.
The Elders, theCherubim, and the New Jerusalem - 120
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CHAPTER VIII."
TheApocalypticSystem ofFour - 161
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CHAPTER IX.
TheFourFirstSeals - - 192
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CHAPTER X.
TheFifthandSixthSeals - - 200
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viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
Page
TheSeventh Seal - - 215
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CHAPTER XII.
TheFourFirstTrumpetsandVials - - 229
- - -
CHAPTER XIII.
The FifthandSixthTrumpetandWial - 252
- - -
CHAPTER XIV.
The Prophecy contained in the Six last Chapters of Zechariah
(ix.—xiv.) - 285
- - - - - -
CHAPTER XV.
TheSeventhTrumpet andVial, and other Visions representing the
FallofRome - - 326
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CHAPTER XVI.
TheEpistlestothe SevenChurches - 352
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CHAPTER XVII.
The Forty Years' Desolation - - 366
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CHAPTER XVIII.
TheSeventyWeeks . - 398
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CHAPTER XIX.
TheThousandYears - 406
- - - - -
CHAPTERXX.
The AgeofSatanletloose - - 419
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CHAPTER XXI.
Ezekiel'sVision oftheTempleandHolyLand - 434
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T H E A P () (; A L Y PS E,
CHAPTER I.
THE TEN HORNS AND THE LITTLE HORN.
THE scheme of the Apocalypse may be stated in few words.
The opening chapter contains an account of the manifestation
of the Redeemer of the world to St. John in spirit on “the
Lord's day,” in the isle of Patmos. Then follow certain words
ofencouragement orrebuke,addressed bythe Redeemer to “the
seven churches” of proconsular Asia, which St. John is com
manded to send to each church, together with an account ofthe
vision he now witnesses. After this, “a door is opened in
heaven;” he is taken up into the presence of the Almighty,
and sees the book of the future unrolled, amidst the thanks
givings ofthe heavenly world, bythe Lamb of God. The sixth
and remaining chapters contain the record of the revelation or
prophecy thus given, an examination of which shows it to con
sist generally of a series of announcements respecting the fate
ofthe Church,and ofthe great enemy ofthe Church, known as
Antichrist; but these announcements being wholly communi
cated in symbolical language, their true interpretation is a pro
blem which has not been yet solved.
Its solution, involving, as will be found, the interpretation of
allthe more remarkable prophecies contained inScripturewhich
have not been already fulfilled in the person of our Lord, is
accordingly the object proposed in the present volume; and I
shall begin, without further preface, by examining that famous
B
A
2 THE APOCALYPSE.
seventeenth chapter of the Apocalypse, in which the key ofthe
vision has so often been supposed to lie.
Rev. xvii. “And there came one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come
hither; I will show unto thee thejudgment of the great whore
that sitteth upon many waters; * with whom the kings of the
earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
* So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. “And the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked
with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup
in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornica
tion: " and upon her forehead was a name written, “Mystery,
Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of
the earth.’ ” And I saw the woman drunken with the blood
of the saints, and with the blood of the fivitnessesf of Jesus:
and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel?
I will tell thee the mystery ofthe woman, and ofthe beast that
carrieth her, which hath theseven heads and ten horns. * The
beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell
on the earth shall wonder,whose names were notwritten in the
book oflife from the foundationoftheworld,when they behold
the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. * And here is the
mindwhich hathwisdom. Thesevenheadsaresevenmountains,
on which the woman sitteth. ” And there are seven kings:
five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and
when he cometh he must continue a short space. " And the
beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the
seven, and goeth into perdition. ” And the ten horns which
thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as
yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
* These have one mind, and shall give their power and
strength unto the beast. * These shall make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord
of lords and King of kings: and they that are with him are
BABYLON IS ANCIENT ROME. 3
called, and chosen, and faithful. " And he saith unto me,
The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. " And
the ten horns which thou sawest, fandf the beast, these shall
hate thewhore,and shall make herdesolate and naked,and shall
eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. " For God hath put in
their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their king
dom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
* And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
reigneth over the kings ofthe earth.”
That Rome, the ancient imperial city o-f that name, is the
Babylon here spoken of, it is impossible to doubt. The decla
ration that the power intended was mistress ofthe world at the
timetheprophecywasgiven(ver. 18.), andtherecognition ofthe
seven mountains as her seat ofempire (ver. 9.), are both so ex
plicit, that a question could hardly have been raised on the
subject, were it not for theassumed impossibility ofinterpreting
the restoftheprophecy onthisbasis. Again,certainprophecies
in the Old Testament lead to the same inference. About six
centuries before St. John wrote the Apocalypse, Daniel had
foretold in two distinct visions, that of the great image com
posed offour metals, and that ofthe four beasts rising one after
another out of the sea”, a series of four empires of more than
ordinary greatness, the last and most powerful of which would
be followed by theglorious and eternal kingdom of the Son of
man. These, it has been often proved, and shall be here taken
forgranted,arerespectively the Babylonian empire, the Persian,
the Grecian or that of Alexander, and, fourthly, the Roman.f
Now this last is dwelt uponinthe prophecy moreminutely than
the other three, anditscorrespondence in one particular feature
with the vision ofSt. John is obvious: “It was diverse from
all thebeasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”$ The
beast on which the Apocalyptic woman is carried has the same
number.
* Dan.ii. 31.,&c.; and vii.
f Itmay suffice toobserveonthis point that Daniel mentionsthe three
firstempiresby name, andindicates theorderoftheirsuccession inthefol
lowingpassages: ii. 38., v. 28., viii.20.21,and x.20.
§ Dan. vii.7.
B 2
4 THE APOCALYPSE.
Babylon then, seated on this seven-headed and ten-horned
monster(ver.3.),isassuredlyarepresentationofRome enthroned
upon her seven hills, and ruling over the nations composing the
fourth empire of the series described by Daniel. Let us next
determine the meaning ofthe “ten horns.”
And, first, let us examine the account given by Danielof the
ten horns. “It was diverse from all thebeasts that werebefore
it; and it had ten horns. " I considered the horns, and behold
there came up among them another little horn, before whom
there were three ofthefirsthorns plucked upby the roots: and
behold, in this horn were eyeslike the eyesofman, andamouth
speaking great things. * I beheld till the thrones were cast
down,and the Ancient ofdaysdidsit, whose garment waswhite
as snow, and the hair ofhis head like the purewool: his throne
was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. " A
fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand
thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten
thousandstood before him: thejudgment was set and the books
were opened. " I beheld then because of the voice of the
great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast
was slain, andhisbody destroyed and giventotheburningflame.
* As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their domi
nion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season
and time. * I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like
theSonofman came with the clouds ofheaven, andcame tothe
Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
* And there was given him dominion, and glory, and aking
dom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve and
obey him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall
not pass away, andhiskingdomthatwhichshall notbedestroyed.
* I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body,
and the visions ofmy head troubled me. " I came nearunto
one ofthem that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this.
So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the
things. " These great beasts, which are four, are four kings
which shall arise out of the earth. ” But the saints of the
most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for
over, even for ever and ever. ".Then I wouldknow thetruth
ofthe fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, ex