10. “His Feet like unto Fine Brass”
“His feet,” says John, “like incandescent brass, as if they had been glowing in a furnace.” We have here to consider the import of the feet; why they are symbolized by brass; in what sense they glow; and in what furnace the glowing is evolved.
p. 175 First, then, what is suggested by the feet of John’s Spirit-Man of Multitude? The idea primarily suggested by feet are a treading upon, and an advancing towards, or after, any thing. The flaming attribute of the similitude as illustrated by the prophetic testimony which it symbolizes, has shown us that it has a mission against the nations. Hence, in relation to them the feet of the Son of Man suggests a treading down and a pursuing to the destruction of their power. This suggestion is in harmony with the testimony of Rev. xiv., where “the clusters of the vine of the earth are gathered, and cast into the great winepress of the wrath of Deity;” and “the winepress is trodden without the city.” The Feet that tread this winepress are the symbolic feet of the Son of man. The following testimonies will enlarge our view of their operation.
In Psal. xviii. 32, the Spirit inquires, “Who is Eloah besides YAHWEH? And who a Rock except our Elohim, the AIL girding me with might? Even he will make my way complete. He causes my feet to be like hinds, and he will make me to stand upon my high places. He is training my hands for war; so that the bow of brass has been broken by my arms, Thou wilt cause my going to extend under me; and my ankle-joints have not wavered. I will pursue my enemies, and shall overtake them, and I will not return until they be destroyed; I will wound them so that they shall not be able to rise; they shall fall under my feet. Thou wilt gird me with might for the war (that styled, “the war of that great day of Almighty Power”—Rev. xvi. 14.) Thou wilt subdue under me those that rise up against me. And thou hast given to me the neck of my enemies; and those who hate me, I will cut them off. They will cry for help, but there is none to save them—unto YAHWEH, but he answered them not. Then will I grind them as fine as dust before the Faces of the Spirit; as mire of the streets will I pour them out. Thou wilt deliver me from the conflicts of the nations; thou hast appointed me for Prince of the nations. A nation which I knew not shall serve me. At the hearing of the ear they shall obey me; the sons of the foreigner shall submit to me; the sons of the foreigner shall fall, and tremble from their strongholds.
47. YAHWEH lives, and blessed be my Rock; and he shall raise the Elohim of my salvation. The AIL who giveth avengements to me, even he will subdue the nations under me.
49. Thou wilt exalt me. From the Man of Violence (Paul’s “Man of Sin,” the “Lawless One”) thou wilt deliver me. Therefore, O YAHWEH, I will give thee thanks among the Gentiles; and sing psalms unto thy name, magnifying the deliverance of HIS KING, and performing the promise to HIS MESSIAH, to David, and to his seed, during the Olahm,” or thousand years.
p. 176 In this passage the Eternal Spirit through the prophet speaks of Messiah in the crisis of his controversy for Zion, in which as the head or chief of John’s Son of Man, he puts his feet upon the necks of the kings of the earth, scatters their armies like dust before the wind, and becomes Prince or head of the nations in their stead. But this is true also of all the other individual members of this “New Man.” If the New Adam himself thus make war upon and trample in the mire the kings and armies of the Old Adam-nature, he has promised that all approved believers “in him”—all who are Abraham’s Seed by being Christ’s—that is, all the Saints shall do the same; and share with him in the fruits of his and their victory. In proof of this the reader is referred to the following testimonies:—
“The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous; verily, there are ELOHIM ruling in the earth”—Psal. lviii. 10, 11.
“All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted”—Ps. lxxv. 10. “He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth”—lxxvi. 12. “Arise, O ELOHIM, judge the earth; for thou shalt acquire possession in all the nations”—Ps. lxxxii. 8. “He will exalt the horn of his nation; the glory of all his saints; of the sons of Israel, a people near to him”—Ps. cxlviii. 14.
Now the phrase “all the saints” is comprehensive of Jesus and his Brethren, who collectively form Daniel’s, “Man of the One Spirit;” Paul’s “New Man;” and John’s “Son of Man.” The same things are therefore affirmed of all, both Jesus and the faithful in him. Hence, as a body, their feet will be like hind’s feet, swift in the pursuit of their enemies, whom they will overtake and destroy. These will fall before their power; and as Malachi says, they will trample them as ashes under the soles of their feet: and when they have got the victory, they will rule with Jesus as “princes in all the earth”—Ps. xlv. 16;—the resurrected “ELOHIM ruling in the earth;” “the Elohim of Messiah’s salvation.”
The feet, in the next place, are symbolized in brass to connect them with the temple-pattern of heavenly things. While gold was peculiar to the interior apartments, or holy and most holy places; brass was characteristic of the Court of the Priests where the sacrificing and washing were performed. The Altar of Burnt-offering and the Laver with his Foot, and the Two Pillars of the porch, and many other things of the Court of the Priests, were all of shining brass, or overlaid therewith. The brass pertaining to the temple was all holy. The p. 177 Brazen Altar was “most holy,” so that whatever touched it was holy; no Israelite, however, was permitted to touch it, unless he belonged to the seed of Aaron; and even they were not permitted to approach the altar till they had first washed their hands and feet in the Brazen Sea. The Altar of Burnt offering prefigured the One Body in sacrificial manifestation. The idea of an altar of sacrifice representing a personal, and divine plurality, is frequent in scripture. Thus, Jacob erected an altar at Shalem in the land of Canaan, and called it AIL-ELOHAI YISRAAIL; that is, the Strength of the Mighty Ones of Israel—Gen. xxxiii. 20: and Moses before the law was given, and in memory of the victory of Joshua over Amalek, “built an altar, and called the name of it, YAHWEH-nissi; that is, He shall be my Ensign—He who was symbolized by the altar—Exod. xvii. 15; Isai. xi. 10, 12; xviii. 3; xxxi. 9; Zech. ix. 16.
This Yahweh-nissi altar was superseded by an altar overlaid with plates of brass. These plates represented “the flesh of sin” purified by fiery trial. “Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, every thing,” said Moses, “that may abide the fire, ye shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless, it shall be purified with the water of separation; and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water”—Numb. xxxi. 22. The connexion of the plates with sin’s flesh is established by their history. They were “the censers of those sinners against their own souls,” Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their company, two hundred and fifty of them, who rebelled against the Strength of Israel. He commanded Eleazar, Aaron’s son, to melt them, and roll them into “broad plates for a covering of the altar;” and for “a sign to the children of Israel”—Numb. xvi. 37. The Brazen Altar, which was foursquare, had four horns of brass, one at each corner; and in sacrifice, the blood was applied to the horns by the priest’s finger; and the rest was all poured beside the bottom of the altar—Exod. xxix. 12. These Horns represent the same thing as the Four Cherubim, the Four Carpenters, and the Four Living Ones, of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and John; only in the Brazen State, which precedes the Golden Olahm, Αιων, or Millennium. As Horns of Brass they “execute the judgment written,” as a consuming fire; for brass and offering by fire, is the association of things in the type.
The Brazen Altar and its Horns of Brass, then, are symbolical of AIL, the Eternal Power, in Elohistic, or sacrificial and judicial manifestation in flesh. “Eloah will come from Teman,” saith the prophet, “The Holy One from Mount Paran. Consider! His glory covers the heavens, and his praise fills the earth: and the splendor shall be as the light: He has Horns out of his hand; and there is the covering of his p. 178 Strong Ones. Before his Faces shall go pestilence, and from his feet lightnings shall proceed. He stood and measured the earth; he beheld, and caused the nations to tremble: and the mountains of antiquity were dispersed; and the hills of the Olahm did bow; the goings of Olahm are his”—Hab. iii. 3-6.
The Horns of the Brazen and Golden Altars are the Eternal Spirits’ Strong Ones who disperse the empires of antiquity, and subjugate the kingdoms of the latter days to Him and his Anointed; so that the current of the world’s affairs will be directed by his Elohim in the ensuing thousand years, or Daniel’s “season and a time.”
The saints, then, are the Feet of incandescent Brass, who have all passed through the fire, and the water of separation, and been consecrated by the blood of the covenant; and “are partakers with the Altar,” even with Jesus—1 Cor. ix. 13; x. 18; Heb. xiii. 10, 12: and those of them who have been slain, have been poured out “beside the bottom,” or “under the altar,” from whence the cry apocalyptically ascends to the Father, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?”—Rev. vi. 10; xi. 1. Hence, those who dwell upon the earth, being like Israel of old, “grievous revolters, brass and iron, corrupters all” (Jer. vi. 28) are to be cast into a furnace glowing with the heat of YAHWEH’s indignation. Israel has been passing through the process for ages. They have been trampled under foot of the Gentiles in a great furnace of affliction; for punishment was to begin first at the Jew; and afterwards to be visited upon the brass and iron of the Gentiles. Ezekiel’s description of Israel’s punishment by Gentile agency will illustrate that of the Gentiles by the agency of Israel under the direction of the Man, “whose Feet are like incandescent brass glowing in a furnace;” and will furnish an obvious interpretation of the text. “The word of YAHWEH,” says the prophet, “came unto me, saying, Son of Man, the house of Israel is to me become dross; they are all brass and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver. Therefore, thus saith YAHWEH Elohim, because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger, and in my fury, and I will leave you, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I, YAHWEH, have poured out my fury upon you”—ch. xxii. 17. In this testimony, Israel in the p. 179 flesh are compared to brass and other metals full of dross. This drossy nature of the brass is the characteristic by which they are distinguished from the “fine,” or “incandescent brass” of the Son of Man, or Israel in the Spirit, in glowing, or burning, operation upon the subjects of YAHWEH’s fiery indignation.
Israel, as dross, is exemplified in the denunciations of the prophets. Their drossiness is seen in the abominations they practised in burning incense to reptiles, and filthy beasts, and idols of every sort; in their women weeping for Tammuz, the Adonis of the Greeks; and in their worshipping the sun between the porch of the temple and the altar, with their backs towards the sanctuary of YAHWEH—Ezek. viii. 7-18. They are still in the drossy state, with the curse of Moses, and the blood-guiltiness they invoked upon themselves and posterity at the crucifixion of Jesus, lying heavily upon them. Israel lives in perpetual violation of the law; and yet professes to expect justification by that law, which only thunders the curses of Mount Ebal in their ears. Hence, they are to this day “the dross of silver in the midst of the furnace” of affliction; “left” of YAHWEH, and “melted.”
But, if Israel be the dross of silver, the Gentiles are the dross of brass, iron, lead, and tin. The Gentile dross is of no more value than Israel’s; for “God has concluded all under sin.” Israel boasts in Moses, and pays no regard to what he prescribes; and the Gentile bepraises Jesus, while their ears are closed, and their hearts steeled against his teaching and commands: so that Jews and Gentiles are both guilty before God; they only excepted who believe the gospel of the kingdom and obey it. They have all, therefore, to be gathered into a furnace glowing with intense combustion, before their races can attain to the blessedness that is to come upon all nations through Abraham and his Seed. Jews and Gentiles must be “melted in the fire of YAHWEH’s wrath,” which fire will glow at the Feet of the Son of Man—“the Saints executing the judgment written;” and “treading the wicked as ashes under the soles of their feet.”
As to the furnace in which this intense and glowing wrath of Deity is to glow, we may state it in the words of Ezekiel as “the Wilderness of the Peoples.” This is the “furnace” both for Israel and their enemies. In relation to Israel in this furnace, it is written, “As I live, saith ADONAI YAHWEH, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: and I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead with you face to face, p. 180 Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith ADONAI YAHWEH. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am YAHWEH”—Ezek. xx. 33-38.
When thus purified from dross in this glowing furnace, the Jewish nation will be brass and silver well refined—Mal. iii. 2. The rebellious dross will have been cleaned out, and Anti-Mosaic Judaism, by which they are now caused to wander out of the way, will have been destroyed from the earth. This refining in the furnace is in “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” out of which he is to be delivered—Jer. xxx. 7; and though they are now “prostrate among the cattle pens,” they will be “the wings of the Dove covered with silver, and her feathers with the brightness of fine gold”—Ps. lxviii. 14; John i. 32.
But the nations are to become molten brass, as well as Israel. Their brass, therefore, is also to be gathered into the furnace, that it may be melted and refined under the intense fire of divine wrath. Israel, commanded by the Son of Man, is a torch of fire in the wilderness, which not only purges them, but serves to consume its peoples. The wilderness thus converted into a smelting furnace, is that which John saw when he was carried away in spirit into the wilderness, where he saw “the Great Harlot sitting upon many waters;” which are interpreted to signify “peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues”—Rev. xvii. 1, 15. The countries of Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and, in short, all the Mediterranean and Euphratean countries, being the territories of the Four Beasts of Daniel, constitute the furnace in which the Nebuchadnezzar gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and clay, are made to glow with fervent heat of sevenfold intensity; and in which the four men of God—the Cherubim—walk to and fro without hurt, “the fire having no power upon their bodies,” as symbolized by Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, and by John’s mystical Son of Man, who torments the worshippers of the Beast and the False Prophet” in the Lake of fire burning with brimstone”—Rev. xix. 20; xiv. 10. The melting and refining the Gentile brass in this Babylonian furnace, incandescent with the wrath of Deity, is Daniel’s “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation to that same time”—ch. xii. 1. It is “the day burning like a furnace,” which shall consume the proud, and all that do wickedly with their Anti-Christian Gentilism, by which the peoples are deceived; but which shall have no power for evil against the people represented by Shadrach, Meshach, p. 181 and Abednego, and the one with them like the Son of God; they shall come forth unharmed, unsinged, unchanged, and inodorous of the fire. For these are the Bride, the Daughter of Zion, to whom the Spirit saith, “Arise, and thresh, for I will make thine Horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples; and I will consecrate their spoil to YAHWEH, and their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth”—Mic. iv. 13. These brazen hoofs of Zion’s daughter, which answer to the feet of John’s similitude, are the feet of Ezekiel’s cherubim, which, he says, “are straight feet; and the sole of their feet like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass”—Ezek. i. 7.
Thus, while Israel is passing through the furnace, under the conduct of the Saints, and are themselves being purged from dross, they are also made use of by their commanders, as a torch of fire among the sheaves, or a lion among flocks of goats (Mic. v. 8; Zech. xii. 6) to destroy the power and kingdoms of the world, after the allegorical example of their transit out of Egypt into the land of the inheritance; for though passing under the rod themselves, they become also “a rod of iron” in the hand of YAHWEH, for the destruction of the nations when their iniquity is full—Rev. ii. 26, 27.
11. “His Voice as the Sound of Many Waters”
In the tenth verse of this first chapter, John informs us, that the first thing that arrested his attention, when he came to be “in spirit,” was “a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last;” and in the fifteenth verse, he tells us, that the great voice was “as the sound of many waters.”
Now, in this book, “many waters” is defined to be “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”—ch. xvii. 15. This would give us the interpretation, that the voice of the Son of Man was the voice of a multitude; and that, consequently, the similitude was the symbol of a multitude—a Multitudinous Son of Man. And this accords with the voice of Daniel’s symbol, of which he testifies, that “the voice of his words was as the voice of a multitude”—ch. x. 6. Ezekiel, also in characterizing the noise made by the Wings of the Four Cherubim, says, “I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of many waters, as the voice of Mighty Ones (Shaddai) in their goings, the voice of speech, as the noise of a camp: in standing they let down their wings”—ch. i. 24. The meaning of this is, that Ezekiel heard the voice of a multitude of Mighty Ones, speaking as the warriors of a camp in motion p. 182 against an enemy; and that when they were not in progress, their voice was not heard; “in standing they let down their wings,” and consequently, there was no sound of war. The wings of the Ezekiel Cherubim, and the Man-like Similitudes of Daniel and John, in speaking, sounded forth as the roar of mighty waters. This was when they were in progress, advancing in body and wings their brazen-footed batallions against the Fourth Beast, or the apocalyptic Beast and False Prophet, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,—the former utterly consumed in the furnace, or “lake of fire burning with brimstone,” and the kings of the earth, and their armies slain with the sword of the resurrected and Glorified Mystic Man.
The multitude of mighty ones, apocalyptically denominated “the Almighty,” is that great multitude referred to in ch. vii. 9—“a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” These are the “many waters,” when their work is done. Ezekiel heard “the voice of speech,” and in uttering their great voice, some of the things they proclaimed are, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they exist, and were created”—ch. iv. 11: and “Salvation to our Deity who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb”—c. vii. 10; v. 14.
John likens the voice to the sound of a trumpet speaking, by which similitude it is connected with Paul’s testimony, concerning the descent of the “Lord himself from heaven, with a shout, with a voice of an arch angel, and with a TRUMPET OF DEITY.” The Apocalypse of the Son of Man is an affair of trumpets. His manifestation is preceded by the sounding of six trumpets; and in the sounding of the seventh, and last, it is that the Saints are raised, and apocalypsed in clouds to meet their Lord the King.
The last period of the seventh trumpet is a momentous and terrible epoch in the world’s history. It is the sounding of the voice of the Almighty Host, that is to make the world to tremble. Alluding to this, Isaiah says, “All the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, when He lifteth up an Ensign upon the mountains, tremble; and when He bloweth a trumpet, they shall hear”—ch. xviii. 3. The prophet tells us, that this is to be at the time when Israel shall be brought to YAHWEH Tz’vahoth, in Mount Zion, as a present, to the place of the Name of YAHWEH Tz’vahoth; which, as Jeremiah testifies, will at that time be called “the throne of YAHWEH”—ch. iii. 17; Isa. xxiv. 23.
This is the trumpet of Israel’s restoration among other events. This p. 183 is manifest from Isa. xxvii. 12, 13, which says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that YAHWEH shall beat off from the channel of the river (Euphrates) unto the stream of Egypt (the Nile), and ye shall be gathered to one another, O ye children of Israel. And it shall be in that day, that the GREAT TRUMPET shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to YAHWEH in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” This great trumpet shall be blown, and Zechariah tells us by whom. In ch. ix. 14, having told us previously, that Zion’s Sons should be raised up to become a sword upon Greece, it is said, “And YAHWEH shall be seen over them, and his arrow (the Ten Tribes) shall go forth as the lightning; and ADONAI YAHWEH (Yahweh’s Lords) shall blow the trumpet, and shall go forth with whirlwinds of Teman. YAHWEH TZ’VAHOTH shall defend them, and they shall devour, and disregard the stones of the sling.” The trumpet blown is for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps; first, for the gathering of the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel; then for the convocation of all Israel; and thirdly, for war against their enemies—the antitype of the Memorial of blowing of trumpets, and of the trumpet of the jubilee, on the first and tenth days of the seventh month—Numb. x.; Lev. xxiii. 24; xxv. 9. The Sons of Deity, his kings and priests, shall blow the trumpet, and proclaim, as the roar of many and mighty waters, to the inhabitants of the world, that they are “the Beginning and the Ending,” “the Elohim of all the earth”—Isa. liv. 5,—the Eternal Spirit multitudinously manifest in flesh.
12. “Out of His Mouth a Sharp Two-Edged Sword”
A sword proceeding out of the mouth of a symbol indicates that the community represented is prepared for military operations. “YAHWEH,” saith Moses, “is a Man of War;” and that warrior is before us in John’s similitude of the Son of man.
The Mouth of such a similitude, with a sword affirmed to be proceeding out of it, is representative of the Commander-in-Chief. “Joseph gave them wagons, according to the mouth of Pharaoh;” that is, “according to the command of Pharaoh.” When the word of command passes out of the mouth of a general, it moves armies, and causes them to draw the sword, and to smite their enemies with great slaughter. His word that goes out of his mouth causes blood to flow; and, as the sword is the instrument of blood-shedding, the idea is fitly symbolized by placing a sword in apposition with the mouth, and affirming p. 184 that it is going forth. If the Son of Man were in an attitude of speaking peace to the nations, his eyes would not be as a flame of fire, and his feet would not glow incandescently, nor would his countenance be as sun-smiting heat; but all this would be modified and changed, and instead of “a sharp double-edged long sword,” an Olive Branch would stand related to the Mouth. According to the tenor of the words is the character of the symbol.
The sword directed by the mouth of the similitude is said to be sharp and two-edged. It is sharp for cut and thrust—the sword of a Mighty Man ready for execution, and which ever way directed is sure to smite effectively. The voice of the words of the great multitude symbolized by this sword, is the voice of the Eternal Spirit speaking through them as the ministers of his vengeance. Hence the sword is symbolical of what Paul styles, “the Spirit of his Mouth,” which is the Lord Jesus Anointed, the Mouth of the Body. Thus, though represented by this cutting instrument, Paul says, “The Word of Deity is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word is sharper now, for it can penetrate in argument where a sword cannot reach; but, how much sharper will it be when the word of command shall find expression through a two-edged sword in the hands of the Saints. But while Jesus is mouth in a personal sense, He and the Saints are the Mouth of the Son of Man in a corporate sense. This personal and corporate sense, in its conjoint signification, must not be lost sight of in the prophetic and symbolic scriptures; or we shall fail to perceive their meaning in the full extent. Thus, Isaiah speaking of the One Body in its Alpha and Omega manifestation, says, in ch. xi. 4, that “the Rod of Jesse’s stem shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked * * * and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of YAHWEH as the waters cover the sea:” and in ch. xlix. 2, “He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword;” so that the enemy is “slain by the words of his mouth”—Hos. vi. 5. By reading Isai. xlix. it will be seen what is to be effected by this sword of the Spirit wielded by David’s house—it effects the restoration of Israel, and the salvation of the nations from the superstition, and misgovernment that destroys them on every side.
The similitude of the Son of man is introduced in Rev. xix. 11-16, where it is resolved into an army, consisting of the Commander-in-Chief, his staff, and the troops they command; or the Lord Jesus, the Saints, and the horses they ride, which are the armies of Israel. In p. 185 this scene the Son of man has many crowns upon his head, which represents a multitude of Kings under one Chief. “His vesture is dipped in blood,” as he had just come from the sacrifice at Botzra; while his body-guards, or officers of his hosts, are “clothed in fine linen, white and clean,” to indicate their righteousness, in peace or war; for “in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” Thus prepared, they are ready for the conquest of the world; which is indicated by the testimony that, “out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the Deity who is Almighty. And he hath on the vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords;” who, being joint-heirs with their imperial chief, have a common destiny and inheritance with him—Rev. ii. 26; iii. 21.
13. “His Aspect as the Sun”
“His aspect as the sun shines in his power.” The words ἡ οψις αυτον, which I have rendered “his aspect,” are expressed in the English version by “bis countenance.” In modern style, this is generally understood of the face. But John certainly did not mean this. He began his description at the hair of the head; and if he had meant the face he would doubtless have referred to it before he passed down to the breasts. What he had reference to, after finishing in detail, was the general external aspect of the whole figure.
This was typified in the general appearance of the Alpha on the mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John, were witnesses of this. It was a representation of the power and coming, or Majesty, of the Lord Jesus Anointed. Peter, alluding to it, says, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the glory and coming of our Lord Jesus Anointed, but were eye witnesses of his majesty. For he received from Deity, the Father, honor and power, when a voice came to him from the excellent glory, saying, This is my Son the Beloved in whom I am well pleased”—2 Pet. i. 16. On that occasion “his face, προσωπον, shone as the sun, and his raiment became white as the light.” This transfiguration scene exhibited the Son of man personal and corporate in the glory of the Father as he will be in the Kingdom of Deity. His general aspect will be glorious; for “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed when YAHWEH TZ’VAHOTH shall reign the glory on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and in the presence of his Ancients”—Isai. xxiv. 23.
p. 186 “Our life is hid with Christ in the Deity, and when he who is our life shall appear, then shall we (the Saints) appear with him in glory”—Col. iii. 4; and, says John, “we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”—1 Epist. iii. 2. When, therefore, the apocalypse of the multitude of the Sons of God, represented by John’s similitude of the Son of man, shall be manifested, being all like to Jesus in transfiguration, the aspect of the Body will be “as the sun when he shines in his power.” Jesus being the Sun of Righteousness, and they like him, they will be all “as the sun;” and “when he shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” He will then “shine forth in his power” the Sun of an unclouded day; and as he shines, so will they; for he has said, “to him that overcomes I will give to sit down with me upon my throne, as I overcome and sit down with my Father upon his throne”—Rev. iii. 21; “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father”—Matt. xiii. 43; and there will be no place found for the earth and the heaven, in which the Beast and the False Prophet, and their kings now shine in all the glory of Satan; for then they will have fled away from before the face and sun-like aspect of the Son of man, seated upon “the Great White Throne” established by his prowess for the Thousand Years—Rev. xx. 11.
From the illustration of the transfiguration, the personal appearance of the Saints will be splendid with brightness. But there is reason to believe that they will not be distinguishable from ordinary men in appearance until their labors are accomplished. When the angels visited Sodom, the citizens did not discern any difference between them and Lot. And so will it be with the Saints who arise to execute the judgment written upon “the Great City, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified”—Rev. xi. 8. The nature of their work requires that they should have the aspect common to humanity, which is not at all incompatible with the symbolical glory of their Body Corporate. If they flashed light from their persons as the sun shoots forth his rays, their enemies would be so panic-stricken, that they would not stand in fight, by which their punishment would be greatly impeded. The resurrected saints will therefore appear upon the theatre of war, as Adam and Jesus when they first emerged from earth. Jesus was mistaken for the gardener. The Angel of the Lord who descended from heaven to open his grave, was of lightning-like countenance, and raiment white as snow; and the guards did shake, and became as dead men; but when Mary saw Jesus, she conversed with him without trepidation. There was an interval between the restoration p. 187 of the body to life and the glorification of Jesus seven days before Pentecost. During this typical interval of forty days, he associated with the disciples, ate, drank, and conversed with them as usual. The body raised not having been “received up in glory,” or displayed in the brightness of spirit-body, was in a condition to shine forth in incorruptibility and immortality when the fitness of things required.
Now Jesus was the great example of all things pertaining to his Brethren, the Saints. When their bodies come out of their graves, they come forth as Adam or Jesus. Had Adam the First (who was the figure of Jesus) shone forth in glory, it would have been when he should have been permitted to eat of the Tree of Life. All the time between his creation and such eating would have been ordinary human existence. It was so with Jesus; and will be so with the Saints. Between their resurrection and glorification is the resurrection state, styled “in the resurrection,” a period of forty years preceding the Millennium, in which some of the most important events of the Apocalypse are to be transacted. The end of this judicial period, during which the kingdom is being established, or “set up,” is the “Evening Time”—the time preceding the Millennial Day. When the night has passed, the Day of Rest arrives, in which the Saints, who have been “scourging throughout the earth,” cease from their labors, and their works do follow them. They enter the kingdom, covered with glory, which the nations will bear in lively remembrance for a thousand years.
Now, according to this arrangement, Zechariah testifies, saying, that when the Mount of Olives shall be rent asunder by an earthquake, “YAHWEH, my Elohim, shall come in, all the Saints with thee. And it shall be in that day there shall be no brightness—the Splendid Ones shall draw in; and it shall be one day that shall be known to YAHWEH, not day nor night; and it shall be at the time of evening there shall be brightness. * * * And YAHWEH shall be for King over all the earth. In that day there shall be ONE YAHWEH, and his Name One”—Zech. xiv. 5-9. The “Splendid Ones” of this passage are the Elohim, or Saints, who will not shine forth in the brightness of their glory until the time of evening; then, when the kingdom is restored to Israel, they will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, as Daniel, Zechariah, and Jesus have foretold.
14. “The Amen”
“I was dead, and behold, I am living for the Aions of the Aions, AMEN.” This is from the Hebrew אמן ahmain, “faithfulness.” The Eternal Spirit, both absolute and incarnate, is “the Amen.” In the p. 188 letter to Laodicea the Spirit speaks, and in speaking, says, “these things saith THE AMEN;” and in this first chapter, the Amen says, “I was dead.” But the Spirit never died; therefore, here it must be understood of the Logos speaking from a body, personal and corporate, with whom he has united in a resurrection thereof from the dead. All the elements of this Body are faithful and true witnesses, and believers of the promises of Deity, which in Christ, are yea, and in Him, Amen, unto the glory of the Deity by us—2 Cor. i. 20. The Son of Man being constituted of firm believers of the promises, is styled ὁ Αμην, the Faithful One; hence all his constituents are אלֹהי אמן Elohai Amen, “Mighty Ones of Faithfulness,” being all of that principle, faith, without which “it is impossible to please the Deity”—Heb. xi. 6. Because, therefore, of their faithfulness, or Amen characteristics, the Spirit saith, they shall eat, and drink, and rejoice, and sing for joy of heart. But to Israelites of an opposite character, he saith, “Ye shall leave your name for a curse to my Chosen One; for ADONAI YAHWEH shall slay thee, and to his servants proclaim another name; that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the Elohim of Amen; and he that sweareth in the land shall swear by the Elohim of Amen (the Mighty Ones of Faithfulness); because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes. For, behold, I create New Heavens and a New Earth * * * for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy”—Isai. lxv. 13. These Elohim, then, embodied in the Son of Man, are “the Amen,” who, in the days of their flesh, “through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy;) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth.” Such were the constituents of “the Amen,” the Mighty Ones of Faithfulness, who all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; Deity having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect”—Heb. xi. 33;—a perfection apocalypsed in “THE AMEN,” who was dead and lives in the Millennial Olahm and beyond.